


100 Ways to Say I Love You

by EzzyDean



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-09 13:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 49
Words: 29,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4350755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzzyDean/pseuds/EzzyDean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are a lot of ways to show you love people and if you're smart you remember that loving a lot of people is okay.  We love in varying degrees of feeling and depth and it changes with each person and that's okay too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. pull over let me drive for awhile

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [100 способов выразить любовь](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9489890) by [MsFlaffy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsFlaffy/pseuds/MsFlaffy)



> Drabble collection based off/inspired by [this list](http://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you) (not in order)
> 
> There will not be 100 chapters because some will be combined but there will be 100 ways written and the timeline of these will skip around (some chapters might have the 1st years as 3rd years and then a couple chapters later they'll be back to 1st years.)

He’s not sure what wakes him up: the on off of the sparsely placed streetlamps turning into a solid light against his eyelids, the hum of the engine dropping to the steady rumble of idleness, or the door sliding open.

“Is something wrong?”  He’s asking the question out of an instinct he had never expected having, words tumbling from his mouth rough and slurred before he can even blink his eyes open.

“Oh not a thing.  Just want a few minutes of fresh air and a quick walk to stretch my legs.”  Takeda laughs softly and pats his head as he stands and steps off the bus.

Keishin gives the team on the bus behind him a quick glance, double checking that everyone is fast asleep except Yamaguchi who gives him a sleepy half smile before leaning his head against the window and closing his eyes, before stepping off himself.

The cool night air is a sharp change from the stuffy bus and it seeks out what tiredness was left in him and snuffs it out before he even finishes stretching.  Takeda is a few feet away, rocking on his heels and humming some tune as he peers up at the starry sky.  Keishin watches him for a couple minutes as the moonlight reflects off his glasses and he wonders if the kids know just how damn lucky they are to have this man as a faculty advisor.  This man has pushed his way through hell for the team for no other reason than because he wanted to give them opportunities.

A tiny part of him is jealous of the kids and wonders if he would have been someone a little different by now if he had had a teacher like Takeda in his life back then.

“Hey,” he calls out softly, “how far out are we?”

The humming stops and Takeda glances over to him.  “Just a few more hours and we’ll be home safe and sound.”  His words are punctuated with a yawn that surprises him if the look on his face is anything to go by.

“Let’s switch it up.”

“Oh that’s alright I’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure you would be.  But I haven’t driven yet for this round and I’m wide awake now.”  Takeda opens his mouth but Keishin shakes his head and gives him a look he knows he usually uses on the team.  “No.  Just let me drive for awhile.”

Takeda smiles at him with a fondness he’s finally getting used to seeing directed his way before turning his eyes skyward again.  They stand in companionable silence just staring up at the stars until a sleepy voice draws their attention back to the bus.

“Everything okay?”  Sugawara peers out at them as he rubs his eyes.

“Just taking a minute and swapping drivers.  Go back to sleep.”  The teen nods sleepily and stumbles back to his seat.  “After you.”  Keishin gestures to the bus and Takeda lets out a soft laugh.  He mumbles something as Keishin settles into the driver’s seat and he twists to look over his shoulder at the teacher.  “What was that?”

“I said the kids are lucky to have a coach like you.”  The sleepy mumble barely reaches his ears and he watches with amusement as Takeda drifts off to sleep before he even puts the bus into drive.

Some days he wasn’t sure which meant more: the fact that the kids trusted him or that a man like Takeda trusted him.


	2. it reminded me of you

They all stare down at their closed hands with something close to confusion written on their faces.  Yachi’s face is bright red as she presses the last one into Yamaguchi’s hand and folds his fingers over it before hurrying back towards the relative safety of Kiyoko’s side.

“Go ahead and look.”

She immediately starts going into an internal meltdown as she does her best to watch each face as they open their hands and stare down at the tiny figurine in their palms.  What if they hate them?  What if they think they’re stupid?  Was it obvious what she did?  Could they tell what she had done to make each one as unique as the person who now held it?

It feels like the air in the gym has stopped moving and she swears she can feel each bead of sweat rolling down her spine, slowly slithering to collect at her waistband as she fidgets.

The first person to react is Nishinoya.  He lets out a happy whoop, much like the ones he let out during a particularly amazing receive during practice, and then grins at her.  That apparently breaks the dam because everyone starts talking after that, showing each other what they had gotten and laughing happily.

“See.  I told you it would be a great idea.”  Kiyoko is holding a tiny crow keychain in her hand and smiling sweetly at Yachi.

Each member of Karasuno’s volleyball team - managers, coach, and faculty advisor included - now had their very own crow keychain.  The chubby little crows had caught her attention while she was out shopping with her mother weeks ago and had immediately reminded her of Kageyama and Hinata.  After begging her mother to buy them and using up her allowance for the month Yachi had worked a little of her artistic magic on them and now each crow had it’s own unique style.

Sugawara’s had a beauty mark under it’s eye.  Yamaguchi’s had freckles.  Hinata’s had a shock of bright orange hair.  Nishinoya’s had a blond feather.  She had even made little glasses for Tsukishima’s and Takeda-sensei’s and a tiny headband for Coach Ukai’s and Asahi’s.

“Where did you get these?”  Narita sounds a little bit in awe as he holds his carefully at eye level.

“Oh I saw them at a little trinket shop when I was out with my mother awhile ago and they made me think of all of you.  So I just fixed each one up a little and here they are!”

“You must have put in a lot of work on all of these.”  Sugawara is suddenly beside her and she startles at being sandwiched between the people she knows are numbers 1 and 2 on the most beautiful sports team members list, even if Kiyoko is a manager she’s still considered part of the team by her adoring fans.  It’s an official list.  One of Yachi’s fellow first year girls has an older sister who is in charge of keeping the list updated.  “You really didn’t have to.”  Suga’s words bring her back to the gym and she blushes again when his words sink in.

“Oh it was no trouble.  I had a lot of fun.”  She looks out to where even Tsukishima looks mildly pleased at the tiny crow with glasses and a tiny pair of headphones in his palm and she smiles.  “It was worth it to see everyone so happy.”

Kageyama is staring down at the tiny crow in his hand with what Yachi can only describe as twinkling eyes.  The almost soft look on his face as he gently pokes the crow with his finger settles some of the doubt whipping in her stomach.  If something she did could make both Kageyama and Tsukishima look so pleased then she obviously did something very very right.


	3. no no it's my treat

Hinata whines as the package is plucked from his fingers but Tanaka shushes him with a smile.  He nudges Tsukishima out of the way and deftly snatches the package from his hands as well.

“You know I am perfectly capable of-”

“Oh be quiet.  I said it was my treat.”

“I assumed you were just talking to Hinata.”

“Well you assumed wrong.  Yamaguchi?”  The freckled teen hands over his package and Tanaka happily drops his armful of snacks onto the counter.  He waves them towards the door where Kageyama is standing and grins at the cashier as she rings their snacks up.  Kageyama looks slightly confused at having his snack taken away but pleased at having his snack apparently bought for him.

Tsukishima has no idea why Tanaka is insisting on buying them all snacks; it was something the third years usually did after practice for the whole team after all not something one of the second years did for all of the first years.  But he wasn’t going to complain about having a snack bought for him.  Not much anyway.

“He’s just trying to buy our love,” he says smugly when Hinata starts shouting out excited thank yous to Tanaka.

“He doesn’t need to buy mine!”  Hinata announces before taking a huge bite of his meat bun.  He swallows and gives Tsukishima his best impression of a glare, something that isn’t too intimidating at the moment considering he has crumbs on his cheeks and still has sparkles in his eyes from Tanaka’s generosity.  “Not all of us are stingy like you, Tsukishima.”

Yamaguchi snickers even as he protests -  “I’m not stingy” - and he has no idea why he’s even protesting it.    Why he’s even bothering to argue with Hinata over something so pointless.

“Though your love and admiration are appreciated and encouraged I’m not buying anything except your snacks.”  Tanaka laughs as he slaps Kageyama on the shoulder, stepping between Hinata and Tsukishima and easily breaking up their spat before it can really start.  Tsukishima is actually a little impressed by how easily Tanaka manages it as he feels the urge to rile Hinata up draining out of him.  “You’ll understand when you’re a second year and have a little group of first years to take care of next year.”

“I have no intentions of taking care of anyone next year other than myself.”

The way Tanaka is laughing you’d think he just heard the best joke ever and he says something under his breath that sounds like “that’s what I thought too” as he turns and hooks an arm around Hinata’s neck and cheerfully drags him away from the little convenience store.

“Are you really going to leave the first years who come in next year in the hands of Hinata and Kageyama?”  Yamaguchi nudges his shoulder and Kageyama frowns at them.  Tsukishima isn’t sure he’d want to leave a plant in the hands of Hinata and Kageyama but he certainly doesn’t think he’d have the patience to tolerate trying to be a good example for the younger kids.  Most days he has enough trouble finding the patience to simply deal with the freak duo.

“Ennoshita can take care of them.  Or Yachi.  Or you,” he glances at Yamaguchi before dropping his eyes back down to his snack.  “Besides,” he continues before Yamaguchi can give him that look that says he knows him far better than Tsukishima is comfortable with, “doesn’t the thought of hearing ‘Hinata-senpai’ or ‘Kageyama-senpai’ just make your skin crawl?”

A balled up wrapper hits his head and lands in his hand.  “Like ‘Tsukishima-senpai’ is any better.”  Kageyama scowls at him and heads off to catch up with Tanaka and Hinata.


	4. happy birthday

Kageyama Tobio was used to dreams like these.  Standing in the gym surrounded by his team as they all stare at him, waiting for him to say something.  Usually these dreams turned into nightmares quickly, a black hole of anxiousness and worry growing behind his back.

This wasn’t a dream at all.  He was wide awake but that hole felt like it was creeping up on him, like his heels would slip off some unseen edge and tip him backwards into a pit of nothingness.

Sugawara and Yamaguchi must sense something in him, some tiny change in his stance or his eyes that sends off warnings in their minds because in a moment they’re both stepping up next to him and pulling him into the center of the gym with matching grins on their faces.

“Happy Birthday, Kageyama!”

The entire team shouts, Tsukishima even mumbles the words out, as Nishinoya and Hinata throw confetti into the air.  Well Hinata seems to throw more into his face and hair than anything else but that barely even registers to him.  Sugawara’s hand is warm on his back and Yamaguchi’s smile is sincere when he nudges his shoulder before returning to his usual place near Tsukishima.

He allows Hinata to tug him down when Yachi shuffles forward hiding something behind her back and if he wasn’t still so shocked at all this - the fact that his teammates even knew and remembered was surprising to him and the whole party they seemed to be having was downright astounding - he’d feel ridiculous with the party hat she slides into place with a smile.  As it is he simply blinks at her kind of stupidly and slowly until Daichi comes over and pats his shoulder.

“You didn’t think we’d forget your birthday, did you?”  Daichi’s voice is unusually quiet and kind under the sudden din of Hinata demanding they all bring their gifts forward and for a moment he wonders if maybe he actually is asleep because he can’t imagine a scenario where their captain is this gentle sounding to anyone other than maybe Sugawara or Kiyoko.

“I didn’t even realize you knew,” he admits.  

“Of course we knew,” Sugawara says softly.

He can feel the scowl on his face even though it’s not what he wants to convey.  He just doesn’t know what to say or do or even feel really.  His old teammates weren’t horrible, not really, he just was never close enough to any of them for this kind of thing to happen.  They were simply acquaintances who happened to play on the same team most of the time.  

They were never this.  Never his friends.  

Never his family. 

They never made him too sweet cake or gave him gifts wrapped in shiny paper that was slick under his fingers.  They never sang to him or pulled him down by his neck to mess up his hair and knock his party hat askew.  They never got into confetti fights with him and chased him around the gym until they collapsed into a breathless pile on the floor with the adults looking at them with fond smiles.

They never played volleyball with him until long after the sun had set and they had to trudge home with scarves tight and noses cold, passing from streetlight to streetlight with his bag stuffed full and an extra one hanging from his wrist.

Yeah he had to say his old teammates had never been bad or anything but they had definitely never given him his best birthday ever, either.


	5. can i hold your hand

Everyone on the team knew that Hinata had certain… quirks.  They all had their own little strange things about them but Hinata seemed to reign champion on largest number of strange requests and actions and occurrences.  There was, for instance, his strange luck of running into big players from other teams in bathrooms before matches.  Not just big as in important but big as in Hinata would run into the absolute tallest people he could find somehow.  There was his habit of putting other people’s clothes on (or putting his own on very very wrong) when he got nervous.  His habit of not being afraid to stand up to people bigger than him and mouth off to them but also being unafraid to hunker down behind Tanaka or whoever was closest when someone intimidated him.

So, yeah.  Hinata had unusual quirks.

Which is why it didn’t surprise Ennoshita too much when the sunny first year tangled his fingers in Ennoshita’s sleeve one day as they waited beside the bus for directions to their latest match.

“Nervous?”  Hinata shook his head, paused, and then nodded uncertainly, fingers tightening on Ennoshita’s sleeve even as he stared straight ahead.  “You’ll be okay.  We’ll all be okay,” he adds when he remembers the way that Hinata and Kageyama had been arguing before stomping onto the bus and sitting on opposite ends, both staring out the windows the entire trip.

Coach Ukai comes back from checking them in and they all set off.  Ennoshita just goes with the flow of the group, settled somewhere near the middle like usual.  Daichi and Suga are leading them, heads close together as they talk quietly.  Tanaka and Kinoshita following close behind.  He can hear Noya and Asahi not far behind him, their voices mingling with Tsukishima and Kageyama lightly bickering just a bit further back.  He catches a glimpse of Yamaguchi’s hair as he bends down to say something to Yachi off to the side of the group.  

Hinata’s fingers are still wrapped in his sleeve and he doesn’t even think about it when Hinata’s voice suddenly floats up to him, unsure and cautious and quiet.

“Can I hold your hand?”

He simply turns his palm towards Hinata and lets him slot their fingers together.

Narita leans towards him and asks him something about the essay they have due next week in History and as he answers he notes that Hinata’s hand feels so small in his and it’s a little strange to think they put so much faith into these hands.  That they allow them to take on so much responsibility, never by themselves because the team is always there, but Hinata carries them forward with so much enthusiasm that Ennoshita sometimes forgets he’s so small.  So young.

He’s still just a first year after all.

A first year whose fingers are clammy and shaking as they clench Ennoshita’s.

He squeezes back softly and turns from Narita for a moment to give Hinata a reassuring smile.  At the thankful look he gets in response he makes a promise to himself to work even harder the rest of this year and into next year.  To support these hands - and the hands of every other member of this team - the best he can and help share the responsibility.

If he is truly going to be the captain next year like everyone seems to think and want him to be he’s determined to be one that Hinata and the others can continue to look towards for comfort and reassurance.


	6. be careful

“How many times do I have to tell you?”  He sighs as he slips his arm around his best friend’s waist and digs his fingers into his hipbones.

“Iwa-chan that hurts,” Oikawa pouts but Iwaizumi can hear the miniscule strings of pain lacing his words that are, to him at least, almost more telling than the way he leans into his side and and loops his arm around Iwaizumi’s neck.

“I don’t drag you away from overworking yourself at practice so you can slip on some ice and get hurt, dumbass.  Be careful.”

“Aw,” Oikawa coos and teases, “did I worry you?”

Iwaizumi’s mind flashes back to seeing Oikawa sliding, feet slipping out from under him and knees buckling, and his stomach clenches.  All the time they’ve spent together, all the times he’s pulled Oikawa out and away and forced him to just slow down for a moment, all of that suddenly tumbles and trips and slides away across a plane of ice, just waiting to crumble and shatter.

“Yes.”

Oikawa tenses beside him, unsteady steps stumbling to a halt as he looks at Iwaizumi.

They don’t do this often.  They tease and poke and prod.  They throw out names and pinch at sides.  They show their affection through Iwaizumi’s thwaps to Oikawa’s head and Oikawa’s fake pouts in return.

It’s rare that they actually use words the way they are meant to be used.  That they show their friendship through soft touches and kind actions.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.  So, just, be more careful.”  He clears his throat and tugs at Oikawa’s waist to get him to move.  “After all what would we do without our distinguished captain around?”

After that Oikawa teases him just because he can.  Iwaizumi threatens to leave him to limp home.  Oikawa calls him a brute and a meanie.

He gets Oikawa to his house and settled on his bed before rolling up his pant leg to get a good look at his knee.  It’s swollen but Iwaizumi’s seen it much worse which at their age isn’t something that should relieve him but it does.  Because this he can easily handle.

He tells Oikawa to change into shorts and heads to the kitchen to get the ice pack.  He tosses it on the counter to warm up a little while he digs out some pain killers and a glass of water because he knows that if he doesn’t get them out for him Oikawa won’t bother with them.

When he gets Oikawa settled with his ice pack and a movie playing on his laptop he slips back downstairs to make something to eat.  It’s Friday so Oikawa’s parents won’t be back until late tonight and as he pokes through the cupboards and decides what to make he sends out a quick text to Matsukawa and Hanamaki.

_ Oikawa slipped on some ice and twisted his knee on the way home.  He’s fine but I’m gonna stay with him and make sure he doesn’t make it worse.  I’m leaving practice up to you two tomorrow. _

**_ Got it. _ **  Hanamaki responds almost immediately.

_** We’ll take care of it.  Let us know if you need backup tomorrow or something. ** _  Matsukawa’s response is a few minutes later as Iwaizumi is pulling out ingredients.   **_ But you totally owe us a meal or something for this. _ **

Some days he’s pretty certain his entire team is nothing but children.  Pouty and easily bribed with food.

But he wouldn’t have it any other way.


	7. i'll help you study

A ravaged wasteland of groaning students and teachers who pressed forward with education even as they paled and wobbled at the head of the classrooms: the latest bout of the flu had swept through the school like a plague leaving a few lucky souls untouched.  By the time it had passed most of the team had been hit.  Narita and Tanaka had been the first to go down with it.  Tanaka voluntarily collapsing onto the bench before practice even started one day and Narita somehow sliding gracefully down the wall behind the benches halfway through practice.  The rest went quickly after that with Yachi being the surprisingly last one to catch it.

She had made it through almost a week and a half of her classmates and teammates going down one after the other and thought maybe she’d be lucky and join Tsukishima, Asahi, and Kageyama in not getting sick.  Then she had been standing near a finally recovering Daichi - who was still a little shaky on his feet after more than twenty minutes of constant motion - and had suddenly paled and ran from the gym, one hand clamped against her mouth.

A week later everyone is still playing catch up.

There is make-up homework and tests and projects to finish and it’s taking everything the ones who were sick have to just make it to practice on time.  Even Suga and Daichi are having trouble catching back up and, other than Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, they are usually the most on top of their grades and work.

Tsukishima is still not entirely sure just how he wound up in Kageyama’s living room with the other first years and all of their notes and homework spread out between the five of them.  He thinks it had something to do with Yamaguchi’s freckles standing out on his still somewhat pale face and the way Yachi’s eye had started going watery when she realized just how much work she still had left to do before the weekend was up.  Maybe a little bit to do with the encouraging look Asahi had given him when the second years had all made plans to get together and the third years had been getting ready to head to the library for some last minute essay research after their short practice that morning; Ukai and Takeda had insisted that they all go home early and finish recovering and getting their work done, but reminded them to be ready for practice Monday morning.

So here he is.  In Kageyama’s living room with Hinata’s homework in his lap while Yamaguchi copies his notes.  Yachi has made up some flashcards to try and help herself catch up on what she missed and Kageyama is using them to quiz her.  Hinata is waiting impatiently for him to finish checking over his homework and tell him what he got wrong.

“Can’t I just tell you to do it again and check it later?”

“No.”  Hinata pouts and plucks his papers up again just to shove them against Tsukishima’s chest with a growl.  “You said you’d help and I’m sure I got some right this time.  What good would it be to do it all again and do stuff wrong again when you can just check it and tell me what I did right so I know what to fix?”  Hinata holds his gaze, eyes bright and demanding and not entirely unlike the creepily determined look he gets on the court, until Tsukishima takes the papers.  Then Hinata looks away and bites the inside of his cheek.  “Please?”

He lets his best put-upon sigh slip from his lips as he looks down to the papers in his hand and starts reading.

“Fine.  But I’m only helping you study until everyone gets caught up again.  Then you and Kageyama are on your own again.”

The look Hinata gives him could probably rival the brilliance of the rising sun.  It also says that Hinata knows better.  That Hinata knows what Tsukishima is finally admitting to himself: that there’s a good chance that he’ll be doing this until they graduate and he won’t be entirely unhappy about it.


	8. just one more chapter

Kuroo yawns, jaw cracking a bit as he blinks his eyes open and tries to make the bleary numbers on his phone make some sort of sense.  According to the numbers it’s apparently two thirty in the morning and the low light of the stars outside would seem to agree.  So would the way his neck is stiff from having fallen asleep on Kenma’s couch with his head on the arm and his legs draped across Kenma’s lap.

“Still playing?”  His voice is sleep hoarse and quiet but Kenma hums in response and Kuroo can just hear the sound of his game’s music if he listens carefully.  Kenma must have turned it down when Kuroo fell asleep because it was much louder when the sun was still low in the sky and Kuroo had his notes propped open on his chest.  His notes that appear to be tossed on the coffee table nearby.  Which is where he tosses his phone with another yawn.  “Shouldn’t we go to sleep?”

“You just were,” Kenma mumbles distractedly.  “And I’m in the middle of an important battle I can’t save right now.”

Sleep sneaks back over him and forty minutes later he pries his eyes open to the sight of Kenma leaning forward, eyes locked on his screen and Kuroo’s shins pinned between Kenma’s thighs and chest.

“Just one more chapter.”  Kenma answers before Kuroo can even say anything.  “And I’ll be at a good point to stop for now.”

“One more chapter.”  Kuroo agrees as he wiggles his toes against the arm of the couch.  “And you’re staying in bed without your game until at least noon tomorrow even if I have to lay on top of you and keep you there.”

He’s pretty sure Kenma rolls his eyes but his own are already drifting shut as he dozes off yet again to the sounds of Kenma’s game and his best friend’s fingers steady and sure on the buttons of his handheld.

The next time he wakes up he doesn’t even open his eyes.  There is a weight on his chest and stomach and the only sounds he can hear are them breathing and the low hum from the refrigerator in the kitchen.  He falls back asleep with Kenma curled up on his chest and his fingers tangled in Kenma’s sweatshirt.

The sound of his phone ringing and vibrating itself off the coffee table wakes him up.  It does nothing to make Kenma stir from his spot on Kuroo’s chest, not that he expected it to; when Kenma passes out after a gaming session nothing short of fresh apple pie or the apocalypse can wake him before he’s ready to wake up.  He reaches around with his eyes still shut as his phone chirps once with a voicemail notification and he does his best not to knock Kenma to the floor.  His best friend might not wake up but he’d be sure to have a sore spot or two when he finally did and then Kuroo would be in a world of hurt.

The phone vibrates against his fingers with a new text and he once again blinks blearily at the time.  At least now it’s almost noon and not stupid ‘o'clock in the morning.

It’s a message from Yaku asking if Kenma stayed up all night again and if Kuroo was coming out to lunch with them.

_ More or less. _

_ Make it late and I’ll be there. _

**_ So an early supper.  Got it.  See you at the diner around 5. _ **

**_ Sleep a little longer with your living blanket and don’t worry about the phone call.  I’ve got Lev under control. _ **

Sometimes the best part of being a part of this team was the fact they all knew each other so well and covered for each other without even needing to be asked.

 


	9. call me if you need anything

“Did you really mean it?”  He rubs at his eyes and rolls back onto his side, phone pressed loosely against his ear as his captain’s voice filters out of the speaker.  “That I could call if I needed anything?”

“Yes, Bokuto,” he says around a yawn, “I meant it.”  He had meant it for every teammate he had given his number to with the same words.  His team was important to him and he was there for them.  Second years didn’t always make vice-captain at a top ranked school like Fukurodani but he worked hard for this spot and always thought of what was best for the entire team.

“Even,” Bokuto pauses, voice tiny and a little breathless, “even if I don’t know what I need?”

“Yes.  Even then.”  A few minutes of silence filters through the speaker and for a moment he thinks that perhaps Bokuto fell asleep on him and considers following him and falling back asleep himself.  Then he hears a sigh, long and drawn out in a way that makes his chest ache a little just from hearing it.

“I’m sorry, Akaashi.”

“For what?”

“Bothering you.  I always depend on you so much.  Sometimes I think I should talk to Sarukui or Washio or maybe Komi.  They’re in my grade.  They’re my age.  Sometimes it feels stupid to have to depend on someone younger than me so much.”

“You could.  But it doesn’t bother me much.  Other than the fact that it’s after midnight on a school night.”

Bokuto laughs softly and Akaashi doesn’t know if Bokuto is being so quiet because it’s late or because he feels that small right now.  He knows that Bokuto has moods, everyone knew that, and that sometimes when he got down and couldn’t find a foothold to stop himself he shrunk into a tiny ball of insecurity.  He also knew that while everyone on the team could pull Bokuto out of himself and back towards the ball of energy he usually was no one could do it as regularly as he could.

Bokuto had drawn Akaashi into his life and carved out a space for him before he had really even been able to say otherwise.

“It’s okay, Bokuto,” he says softly.  He pulls his curtain back enough to peek out at the clouds drifting high in the night sky.  “I’m your vice-captain.  You can depend on me if you need to.  You know I don’t mind and that nothing you say when you call me like this will change my opinion of you.”

Bokuto was the energy that electrified the team, that drove them to reach higher and higher.  The one they all pushed themselves to impress and make proud.  Akaashi was the dependable one.  The one to remind them to eat and take a break.  The one to make the decisions when Bokuto couldn’t.  He was second in command and he knew his team almost better than he knew his family.

“I think I may have figured out what I needed.”  He sighs in relief a little, thankful that this wasn’t going to require more thinking on his part.  Thinking when being woken up not long after midnight was not high on his list of things he did well.

“And what’s that?”

“You telling me what you just did.”

“That’s good.”  

He waits another minute to make sure Bokuto was done and he can hear the smile in Bokuto’s voice when he says, “Goodnight, Akaashi.”

“Goodnight, Bokuto.”


	10. it's two sugars, right

It’s still dark out when he stumbles into the dining area and seeks out the coffee pot.  Yes he’s still a high schooler but he requires caffeine to function.  Especially at this camp, especially when he knows he’ll have it all worked out of his system before ten that morning, nine if he’s unlucky and they get their asses kicked again.  There’s one other person here, sitting in the dark at a table near the corner and he heads over there once the coffee is ready.  He slides one mug across the table, settles into the seat across from Kenma, and drops his chin onto his forearm while he waits for his own mug to cool off.  Kenma’s eyes dart up from the table to the mug, over to his own eyes, and then back down to the table in a matter of seconds and Tsukishima yawns.

“Two sugars,” Kenma mutters, fingers inching towards the mug.  Tsukishima hums in agreement and rolls his neck a little, trying to work out the stiffness from sleeping on a crappy futon in the middle of a room of his fellow teammates.  Hinata snored - albeit quietly but he still snored - Tanaka had a tendency to mumble in his sleep and the new first years were five kinds of far too energetic and excited for this camp and none of that was the soothing sounds that he preferred falling asleep to.

“Two sugars,” Tsukishima finally says in response before grabbing his own mug and taking a long swallow.  “Though I don’t know how you can drink it like that.”

“Usually it’s more.  But in the morning it’s just two.”

They sit quietly, enjoying the silence between each other as the sun finally rises and the rest of their teams start filtering in.

“How long have you even been awake?”  Inuoka mumbles as he collapses onto the bench next to Kenma and immediately drops his head to the table.  Not everyone is a morning person.  Not everyone is the bouncing ball of sunshine incarnate that Hinata is at training camp though Shibayama seems to come close as he skids into the room with a laugh as he slams into Lev.

“Long enough,” Kenma answers quietly and drains the rest of his mug.

It’s a trainwreck from there when Noya jumps into the fray - and onto Lev’s back - with a shout that seems to rouse Tanaka from where he had been leaning against Ennoshita with his eyes drifting shut.  He somehow drags Kinoshita into the pile of limbs and volleyball players.  Kinoshita gives Tsukishima an almost pleading look as he is pulled past the table but he turns his attention back to his almost empty mug of coffee with a sigh.

“Do they always have to be so noisy?”

Yamamoto is suddenly shouting nearby and Kenma’s laugh is almost drowned out by the ruckus.  But Tsukishima is just close enough to hear it and he gives a sleepy smirk in response.  Inuoka rolls his head far enough to the side to give them both incredulous looks and a pout.

“Why didn’t anyone make me coffee?”

Tsukishima gestures towards the other corner and drops his chin back onto his arm again.

“We only had one cup each.  There’s more left unless someone else got to it already.”

Yachi drops onto the bench next to him with a little humph sound and curls her hands protectively around a coffee mug as she attempts to not lean against him in her tiredness.  She gives in after about thirty seconds and knocks her head into his shoulder as she slumps to the side and takes a sip.  Inuoka groans and pushes himself away from the table muttering about the unfairness of everything as he makes his way across the room to the coffeepot.  Kenma tugs his sweatshirt over his hands and snuggles his face into his arms.

“Wake me up when breakfast is over.”


	11. i picked these for you

The evening sun filters in through half-drawn curtains and she pauses in the kitchen doorway.  She is at least eighty percent sure those weren’t sitting on the counter when she stumbled through the kitchen this morning, half asleep but fully dressed and mostly functional, grabbing her keys and bag on the way.  Closer to ninety percent sure, actually, as she thinks back and remembers grabbing her keys from almost that exact same spot this morning.

“Hey, Ryuu!”

Muffled footsteps clear out as her brother pads down the hallway and pokes his head in.

“What’s up?”

“Where did these come from?”

“Oh.  I picked them on my way home from practice.  They’re pretty awesome aren’t they?”

“You didn’t pick ‘em from someone’s garden or something right?”

Ryuu flushes and frowns at her.  “Sheesh make a mistake once and you’ll never live it down.  No.  I got them outside Ukai’s shop, you know our coach?  He said his mother said something about getting rid of them so I grabbed a bunch on my way home.  I thought that my big sis could use some flowers.”  He shrugs and smiles at her.  It’s that smile that she knows will make some girl or guy just absolutely smitten with her brother someday.  The smile he usually hides behind his tough guy bluster and boisterous attitude.

“They’re beautiful.  Thank you.”

Her eyes keep drifting to them throughout making supper and eating, watching the way the kitchen lights play with the small glass Ryuu had stuck them in, noting the way the kitchen felt a little brighter with the flowers on the counter.

“You really like them that much, huh?”  Her brother’s voice snaps her out of her thought and she blinks a few times.  She had been staring at the flowers, her mind a million miles away on thoughts of bills and work and school and making it to Karasuno’s next game.

“I really do.”  Ryuu grins again and nods once before grabbing their dishes and heading to the sink to wash them.  “What did I do to deserve such a great baby bro?”  She grabs her glass and joins him at the sink.

“All you had to do was be born first.  You’re pretty great yourself you know.”

First that smile and now this.  Saeko was kind of glad that her little brother hadn’t yet realized how much of a smooth sweetheart he was, that this side of him was still hers.  She was sure that with the volleyball team bits and pieces of his more hidden sides would leak through.  His protectiveness, his kindness, his thoughtfulness.  His soft smiles and quiet laughs.  The way his eyes lit up over the sight of animals and the way he always remembered to drop a blanket over her when she fell asleep on the couch.

Someday someone was going to realize how amazing he was and he’d think the world of them.  But for now he was just her baby brother and he was still all hers.


	12. close your eyes and hold our your hands

He has about half a second to recognize the cry of his name in a familiar voice before he is staggering forward, arms tight around his neck with the entire weight of Bokuto on his back.  He barely manages to get his hands up enough to stop himself from slamming his nose into the wall in front of him and he’s pretty sure he hears Kenma let out an amused snort before wandering away, presumably to find Akaashi.

“Bokuto,” he groans as his friend wiggles and wraps his legs around his waist, “you’re heavy.”

“I barely weigh more than you.  I’m not that heavy.”  Bokuto laughs and he grumbles back but doesn’t try to detach Bokuto from his back.  He learned his lesson years ago that it would only make Bokuto A) pout or B) come back later with a vengeance.

“You’re not the one holding you up.  You’re not exactly Kenma-sized you know.”

“Eh whatever.”  Bokuto drops his chin onto Kuroo’s head and hums contentedly as Kuroo makes his way over to the doors.  Akaashi and Kenma are nowhere in sight but Bokuto’s bag is sitting a few feet away.  “Oh hey that’s rude,” Bokuto pouts and wriggles and Kuroo happily drops him to the ground.  He digs around in his bag as Kuroo tries to stretch out his back.  It didn’t matter how many times Bokuto did that it was still a pain to deal with.

“Next time I’m jumping on your back.  See how you like it.”

“Go for it.”  Bokuto grins at him over his shoulder and Kuroo rolls his eyes.  “But first.  Close your eyes and hold out your hand.”

“What?”

He hops to his feet and nods eagerly at the confused look Kuroo gives him.  Bokuto making demands that he can’t understand the point of is not anything new to him.  He isn’t sure he’ll ever be able to follow Bokuto’s thought process and he gives all the points in the world to Akaashi for seeming to be able to keep up with him so well.

“Close your eyes.”  Bokuto’s gaze is steady and excited and Kuroo shakes his head in amusement.  Sometimes it’s easier to just go along with what Bokuto wants and hope he can pick his way out of the tangled web at the end.  He sighs and closes his eyes.  “Now hold out your hand.”  He sticks out his hand, palm up, and waits.  Boukto’s fingers are warm against his skin as he wraps something around his wrist.  A minute later Bokuto grabs his hand and turns it over so he can inspect whatever he tied onto Kuroo’s wrist.  “Just a moment longer.”  He can hear Bokuto mumbling to himself as he struggles with something and then Bokuto lets out a happy shout. “Ok.  Go ahead and look.”

He opens his eyes and looks down.  A bracelet is wrapped around his wrist; thin silverish, black, and red leather strips with tiny cat, owl, and volleyball charms hanging together from it.  Bokuto raises his eyebrows when Kuroo glances at him and holds up his own wrist, matching bracelet dangling in front of his eyes.  He looks so pleased with himself when Kuroo grins at him.

“Aren’t they the coolest?”

“Did you buy these somewhere?”

“Nope.”  Bokuto rocks on his heels.  “I got a crafting buddy and we made these a few weeks ago.”

Kuroo had no idea that Bokuto was into crafting things but it really doesn’t surprise him.  The energy and focus he has outside of volleyball has to be used on something other than his grades after all.

“Friendship bracelets?”

“Definitely.”


	13. take a deep breath

There hasn’t been a day yet since Daichi made his “official” announcement that Ennoshita hasn’t felt that his captain made the wrong choice.  It’s not always in the front of his mind.  Sometimes it’s lingering in the back, ready to slither forward in the moments before he falls asleep.  Sometimes it’s hovering to the side, ready to blindside him when he loses focus on practice.  But sometimes it’s right there.  Right in front of him.  The blinding assurance that he is in no way capable of being Daichi’s predecessor.  No way capable of being the next captain of Karasuno.

But that doesn’t stop him from showing up for morning practices and afternoon practices.  Doesn’t stop him from staying late to make sure Hinata and Kageyama go home.  Doesn’t keep him from wrangling Tanaka and Noya when they go scurrying away from Daichi’s glare.

Which are all things that Daichi calmly points out to him as being perfect reasons why he  is perfectly capable of being captain.

“There are three big things I want you to remember.  The first thing is that you’re not doing this alone.  Yes.  You’ll be captain.  But you’ll have your vice-captain.  The coach and advisor.  The manager.  Your fellow third years.”  Daichi stretches his legs out and knocks one foot against Ennoshita’s.  “You’ll have us graduates.  You know that any of us will be willing to help you.”

Sure he knows this.  But all that trust.  All that devotion and faith.  In him.  His abilities.  His leadership.

He thinks of Hinata’s hand clammy and shaking in his own from that day months ago and sighs.  No matter how much he’s put into this, into improving himself,  that’s no guarantee he’s actually capable of doing anything about anything.

“The second thing to remember is that it’s okay to make mistakes or be worried.  That’s part of why you have all those people from point one by your side.  They’ll help ground you and help you make decisions.  You just have to be willing to trust them when you need to and to trust your own instincts.”

Instincts?  His instincts led him to leave.  How the hell was that good captain material?  Daichi must know what he’s thinking because he sighs and gets that politely stern tone to his voice.  The one that even Suga stops and listens to most of the time.  The one that says he’s being serious and is getting tired of what you’re saying or doing.

“You left.  But you came back.  That’s the important part.  That gives you something to grow from.  You’re smart, Chikara, and you know your team.  You know what to say to them to help them and that’s important.”  Daichi pauses a moment, as if he’s just remembered something.  “They trust you.  I’ve seen the first years coming to you for advice.  I’ve seen the way you rein in Tanaka and Noya.  I’ve see how you talk with Coach Ukai and Takeda.  I stand by my choice to make you captain.  And if you want my advice in terms of a vice-captain,” he leans against Ennoshita’s shoulder, “I’d suggest going with Yamaguchi.  Tanaka and Noya get too into the game to focus on other stuff sometimes and Kinoshita and Narita feel like they don’t deserve it even more than you feel you don’t deserve captain.  Which isn’t true.  Any of you would make good captains.  But Yamaguchi is level headed and a hard worker and I think it would do the team good to have you two to lead them.”

Ennoshita thinks of all the things Daichi and Suga have accomplished this year.  Thinks of the first years who will be second years in no time.  His fellow second years who are already mourning the loss of their mentors and their carefree days.  Thinks of the incoming first years who will be bright and fresh and, hopefully, eager to play.  All of them looking to him for decisions and leadership and strength.  Everything piles up inside him and he lets out a breathy laugh before it can get to be too much.

“What’s the third thing to remember, Captain?”

Daichi grins and slaps him on the back.  “Remember to take a deep breath and just play.  You have a whole team behind you to help you.”


	14. can i have this dance

Asahi can feel himself caving, coming closer to crumbling with each passing moment, each second dragging him closer and closer to the edge.  Not that he’s trying too hard to stop his fall - he rarely does when it’s Noya he’s looking down at.  When it’s the firecracker spark in Noya’s eyes pleading with him.  The thrumming energy under Noya’s skin that reaches out and sets off something similar under his own skin.  Even Noya’s hair seems to be vibrating with energy and excitement.

His shoulders slump and he hears Suga and Daichi giggling behind him.  Well Suga giggles.  Daichi lets out one of his all knowing chuckles that makes Asahi feel like he’s ten years old or something.

“Alright, Noya.”  Noya whoops and runs over to the first years, grabbing Tsukishima’s phone and plugging it into a set of speakers he had drug with him to practice.  He scrolls through the music on Tsukishima's phone while he hovers behind him with a scowl, obviously having not agreed to this whole thing, and then he’s back across the gym and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

And that’s how Asahi finds himself in his socks with Noya - also shoeless - standing on his feet while they dance.  It’s ridiculous and silly and he’s pretty sure his face has never been redder.  But it’s kind of fun.  It reminds him of seeing his cousin dancing with his uncle, tiny little three year old with one hand clutching her father’s leg and the other clutching his fingers while they danced under the trees in the park.  Noya’s not  that much shorter than him technically but when he insists on standing on Asahi’s feet and letting Asahi dance them around the gym it’s really the only thing he can think of.

At least he’s not alone in the dancing.  He’s pretty sure he’s never seen Daichi’s face turn as red as it had when Suga had turned to him - with his shoes already slipped off - while he was in the middle of laughing at Asahi and asked if he could have a dance.  Daichi had choked on his own breath but there he was, a few feet away, pretending he didn’t look like a sunburnt lobster with no idea how to hold Suga’s hand properly.

Noya laughs suddenly and then buries his face in Asahi’s chest.

“Oh my gosh look at them.  They’re so adorable,” he mumbles.

“Who?”  Noya gestures towards the first years without letting go of Asahi’s hand.

He glances over in time to see Hinata pouting at Tsukishima who is glaring down at him.  Hinata says something and Tsukishima raises an eyebrow and responds with a shake of his head.  Hinata huffs and turns to Yamaguchi who blinks at him in surprise, a blush touching his cheeks, and then shrugs and holds out his arm for Hinata to grab.  Hinata sticks out his tongue as they walk away, leaving Tsukishima and Kageyama standing alone.

The other second years have been switching around, Tanaka currently dancing with Narita and Ennoshita with Kinoshita, and Yachi is stumbling a little as she dances with Kiyoko which leaves only Kageyama and Tsukishima.  Neither of whom look even remotely interested in dancing, least of all with each other.

It’s actually a lot of fun now that almost everyone is doing it.  Even when they all start switching and he finds himself dancing with Daichi.  Which is mostly awkward because neither of them really know what they’re doing so they just kind of shuffle around and laugh at each other while the rest of the team does the same.  They do get a good laugh when they glance over and spot Tsukishima dancing with Suga and looking very confused as to how he got there while Kageyama is stuck with a very enthusiastic Tanaka.

“This team is so ridiculous.”  Daichi shakes his head as Noya bounds up to Yachi and bows dramatically until she starts giggling at him.  Kiyoko trades places with Narita to dance with Ennoshita and Narita wanders over to where Yamaguchi is standing with a smile.

“But that’s why we love them so much.”  Asahi flushes when he realizes what he said but he doesn’t take it back and Daichi doesn’t disagree so they simply keep dancing in their gym clothes and socks.


	15. stay there i'm coming to get you

“Nope just stay right there I’ll find you in no time.  Don’t worry I’m coming to get you.”  Bokuto turns and flashes a tight smile at Akaashi.  “I’ve got to go for a bit I’ll be back as soon as I can.”  He’s gone before Akaashi can even mention that today’s extra practice was all his idea and he could still be at home sleeping if it wasn’t for him.  But he simply shrugs and slips on his shoes.  He might as well get some jogging in if he wasn’t going to be practicing tossing.

Crowds part for Bokuto like he’s got some sort of repelling shield on him or something - it never occurs to him that it’s because he’s dressed in his practice clothes with his hair even messier than usual and golden eyes a little wild as he searches the streets - and he’s glad.  He has no patience for people right now.  He’s on a mission and nothing will keep him from completing it.

A tiny sniffle catches his attention and he zeroes in on the sound, only hearing it because he was listening for it.  A familiar head of blonde hair is bent over knees pulled to a tiny body and he sighs in relief.

“Hey there.”  He keeps his voice quieter than usual, a feat that many on his team would believe nearly impossible, squatting next to the tiny figure and just waiting until they finally look up.  “Told you I’d find you,” he says with his brightest grin.

“Thank you, Bokuto,” the tiny voice whispers up to him before he holds out his hand.

“Any time.”

\--

“So,” he swings their hands a little since they’re still clasped together, “what were you doing here all by yourself?”

“Ah, well the other first years and I were on a trip of sorts and just as the others got on the train home I realized I must have left my phone in the bathroom and ran back to get it.  But by the time I got back the train was gone and none of them were answering their phones and I kind of got a little lost when I panicked a little.”  A surge of anger and protectiveness rolls through him and he grips the hand in his a little tighter.

“No one was answering?  They just left you behind?”

Yachi laughs softly and squeezes his hand back.  “Well Hinata left his phone at home in the first place and Kageyama always has his on silent and they were arguing when they got on.  Yamaguchi is usually pretty good about it but his battery was almost dead when we came to town and Tsukishima always has his music on so he misses calls sometimes.”

“I am going to have to have a talk with them about this.”  Yachi laughs again and shakes her head.  “I’m serious.  They can’t just abandon you like that.  What if you hadn’t gotten hold of anyone?  What if I hadn’t been able to answer?  What then?”

Yachi just shakes her head as Bokuto leads her back to the gym where Akaashi was still doing laps inside.  Akaashi’s eyes widen slightly at seeing her but he politely nods his head and continues jogging as Bokuto gets her set up near the benches.  He’s promised to walk her back to the station later, preferably with someone on the train to meet her, after he’s finished training with Akaashi.  

She’s glad that she met Bokuto.  He’s fun and playful and loves doing crafts with her.  Just a few weeks ago they met up via Skype and spent two hours making bracelets and keychains together.  He’s super sweet and extremely protective of her.  Sure the rest of the Karasuno team is protective but being part of the team that’s expected.  Bokuto is protective of her like a big brother.  Like the way she’s seen Tanaka’s sister acting towards him.  The way Hinata is with his baby sister.

It’s adorable and sweet and Bokuto looks so proud when she thanks him for rescuing her later when he sees her off at the station.

“Big brother Bokuto is here for you any time.”


	16. there's enough room for both of us & i saved you a seat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (two prompts in one)

How they always managed to squeeze fourteen teenagers, many of whom were fairly muscular and well built and tall, into the Tanaka family’s living room was mind boggling to Yamaguchi.  He mentioned it once to Tsukki and the blond had merely shrugged and said something about he doesn’t try to think about how they manage to do anything most of the time.  Something about it being too much effort to think that hard about it.

But the point was that they did manage it.  Fairly frequently these days since they used the Tanaka house as kind of meeting place.  Neutral ground that was pretty much in the middle between everyone’s homes and just large enough to fit them all in fairly comfortably.  A place they could get together to talk about strategy or homework or just relax when it was needed.

A place to watch a new movie that they had all been interested in seeing.  Some more interested than others, Yamaguchi snickers to himself as Tsukki drops onto the floor in front of the chair Nishinoya is settled in.

“Shut up, Yamaguchi,” Tsukki snaps without even looking away from the tv.

“Sorry, Tsukki,” he responds automatically as he settles onto the floor in front of Yachi on the couch.  Kiyoko is seated on the opposite end with an empty spot in between them.  An empty spot that she refuses to let anyone sit in.  Kageyama is sitting next to him in front of the empty spot and the second years are sprawled throughout the room, Ennoshita using Yamaguchi’s shins for a pillow, when the third years and Hinata finally arrive.  Suga and Hinata had been in charge of snacks while Daichi and Asahi had gone to rent the movie.

Suga puts the movie in and flops onto the floor next to Narita and drags Daichi down with him.

“I saved you a seat, Asahi,” Kiyoko says quietly and nods to the empty space.  Yamaguchi barely hears it over Noya telling Hinata that they can share the chair.

“We can both fit.  It’s a pretty big seat.”

“And you’re not very big people,” Tsukki says as the DVD menu pops up and he easily avoids Noya’s half-hearted kick, catching his ankle under his arm and holding him still.  Hinata grins and hops into the chair next to Noya, wriggling until he can press his bare toes into Tsukki’s shoulder, just above where he has Noya’s foot trapped, and get a grumble in response.

“Play nice you three,” Daichi mutters as he tries to figure out how to comfortably use Suga’s stomach as a pillow and Narita’s thighs as a foot rest of sorts.

Kageyama bumps into his shoulder as he tries to make room for Asahi to settle onto the couch.  He gives Kageyama a smile and leans to the side a little.

“Thank you.  Sorry.”  Asahi mumbles as he drops onto the couch, careful not to disturb the girl on either side of him, and tries to figure out where to settle his legs with Kageyama in front of him.  Yachi smiles sweetly and tucks her feet under herself to give him more room.  Kageyama finally huffs a little and slides forward enough to get Asahi’s legs behind him and lean his shoulders against his knees.

“Can we start the movie now?”  Kinoshita asks when Tanaka finally comes in with bowls of popcorn that he passes out before settling in next to him.  

“Of course we can.”  Tanaka plucks the remote out of Kinoshita’s hand with a grin and hits play.

When Saeko makes it home it’s to find that they’ve gone through five movies, six bowls of popcorn, and all the candy Hinata and Suga had brought with.  She also finds Hinata asleep against Noya’s shoulder, Tsukki’s head lolling to the side and nearly resting on Noya’s knee, Yachi half asleep curled against the arm of the couch, and Daichi fast asleep with his head still on Suga’s stomach and Narita curled around his legs.

She just shuts the lights off in the kitchen, sends out a mass message to the parents of the team, and heads up to her room with a smile.

Yamaguchi and Suga make sure to thank her in the morning for always allowing them to invade - and crash overnight in - her home.

She shrugs and pats them both on the shoulder as she digs out stuff for breakfast.  “Ryuu says you’re family and that’s what families do.”  Suga takes the bowl she hands him and Yamaguchi nearly drops the pan she hands over when she grins.  “Now help me make breakfast.  We’re apparently feeding a small army this morning.”


	17. we can share

Once upon a time, Kenma thinks, he was left alone during these things.  He wasn’t followed around by a giant cat or a chipper baby bird.  He didn’t have shadows falling over his lap and arms pressing against his.  The background music of his life used to be the squeak of shoes in the distance and not cheerful giggles in his ear.

Now practice matches versus Karasuno involve Lev bringing him bottles of water and Hinata draping himself over his shoulders.  They involve talking to people and giving instructions and playing together.  Catching Tsukishima’s gaze and understanding the look of trying not to roll your eyes at your teammates, sharing a look of commiseration as Lev and Hinata bounce around one side of the gym and Tanaka and Yamamoto bounce around the other.

The gym is cleaned up, the sun has set, the teams are settling down for some card games and chatting before bed.  He glances up from his spot outside the gym and then away quickly.  Something about the starry sky on nights like these always makes him feel uneasy when he looks up at them.  Like he’s lost, drifting on a sea that he didn’t even know existed until the solid ground beneath his feet rolled and turned liquid.

Hinata has plastered himself against Kenma’s back.  Like he’s a blanket of protection against the cool night air, an anchor in an unsteady ocean as they sit outside the gym.

“Whatcha doin, Kenma?”

The night is full of surprises because for once Hinata’s voice isn’t blaring in his ear as he wraps arms around Kenma’s shoulders and for once Kenma isn’t actually doing anything with the electronic device in his hands.  In fact his phone is dangling loosely from his fingers and would be in danger of falling to the ground if Kenma wasn’t so careful with it.

“Nothing,” he sighs.  “Thought about listening to music but I don’t have headphones.”

“No game?”

Kenma’s eyes slide up to the sky, inky blackness permeated with bright dots, and away to safer territory; the grass starting to seep up through the cracks in the cement, the laundry basket of practice jerseys sitting next to the doors, the moths fluttering around the small light nearby.  He catches a glimpse of sunshine out of the corner of his eye, feels Hinata shifting against his back, and then there’s a pair of earbuds dangling in front of his face.

“We can share?”

Sometimes Kenma forgets that Hinata’s wide eyed gaze isn’t all fluff and innocence.  That he sees things and makes connections even if he doesn’t realize it right away.

He grabs the cord and plugs it in as Hinata untangles the rest and hands one earbud to Kenma before slipping the other one into his own ear.  He skims through the music on his phone and picks a random playlist he knows Hinata will enjoy.

Three songs in he glances up to the stars and finally feels a little more grounded.

He plays with the cord idly and then frowns in recognition.

“Are these Kei’s extra headphones?”


	18. do you want to come too

Giggles fill the train carriage, light and bright and so vibrant it’s almost hard to look directly at the beaming faces they’re coming from.  Hard but not impossible, especially when no one is around him to block his view and the fact that he’s looked straight into that sun before, at least one of them.  He’s already been burned, eyes scorched by the pure energy that comes from Hinata Shouyou.

He hears his name and even though he knows it’s Hinata saying it, it still takes a moment to register because he’s not used to hearing someone sound so utterly cheerful when speaking to him.  Futakuchi is friendly and kind and they get along but Aone can’t remember him ever sounding so downright  happy to see him.

“So where are you going?”  He doesn’t even get a chance to open his mouth to reply.  “Oh wait.  Sorry.  This is my little sister Natsu.”  Brown eyes wide and kind and glossy with happiness peek up at him from behind Hinata.  “Natsu this is Aone.  He plays volleyball with me.  Well he plays for a different team.  Remember the huge wall I told you about?”  Orange hair ruffles against Hinata’s side as she nods her head, still watching Aone cautiously.  “He was part of it.  He’s really good and a really good person too.”

“Really?”  She asks, voice full of wonder in a way that only small children really ever seem to pull off completely.

“Really really.”

This assurance is apparently the only thing she needs because in an instant she’s sitting on the seat next to him with a sunshine grin that could light up a city, feet swinging above the ground, and chattering away about their trip.  He’s not entirely sure if she’s talking to him, to her brother, to the train carriage, or just to the air.  But she grins and laughs and talks, content to be seated next to him with her brother standing in front of her.

It’s a strange change for him.  No one ever wants to sit next to him.  Never willingly and never with a smile like that.

Hinata grins down at his sister, nodding at something she says, and then looks at him.

“So did you have any plans for today.”

He had gone to the library to return some books and had considered stopping by an arcade or park on the way home for a change of scenery but that was about it.  He shakes his head.

“So then would you like to come to the zoo with us?”

He glances to the side, takes in the ball of sunshine and warmth pressing against his hip as her hands move to help tell whatever story she’s telling oblivious to the fact neither of the older boys are really listening at the moment, then back to Hinata, eyes kind and patient in a way Aone had never expected Hinata to be when he had first met him on the court.

He nods.  Then after a moment’s consideration answers out loud.  “I would, thank you.”


	19. i did the dishes

He had whined and pouted and dramatized to Iwa-chan halfway through practice and the entire time they were changing afterwards but in reality he didn’t really mind much.  Which wasn’t exactly a secret to those close to him if the look his best friend gave him was any indication.  But that wasn’t the point.  The point was he had an image to maintain and if the quivering masses of his fans found out how kind and thoughtful he was to his family they would fall even more in love with him and that would just end disastrously he was sure.  The same goes for his teammates.  If they knew how sweet he really was then they might expect him to be soft, to go easy on them and that couldn’t happen at all.

So he left with a dramatic sigh about going to watch his nephew for the evening while Iwa-chan did something rough and barbaric behind his back that had Makki and Mattsun snickering.

Truth be told he loved his nephew, loved his entire family in fact, and he had no problem watching him for a night or weekend here or there and his family always made sure that it wouldn’t interfere with his volleyball schedule.  He was pretty sure they actually asked Iwa-chan from time to time about it and had him watch Takeru on days practice ended early so he wouldn’t go back and overwork himself.  Which was sweet for the most part.

“Do you have a lot of homework to do?”  He asked after they finished eating the food that had been left in the oven for them.  Oikawa Tooru was many things but a good cook was not one of them.  A fact that he actually readily admitted to when prompted about it if for no other reason than to avoid the inevitable glare/eyeroll/explicitly detailed description of how badly he nearly burned down multiple kitchens multiple times by Iwa-chan.

He didn’t have much work himself thanks to the all-nighter he pulled the night before - his knee had been aching and his mind spinning so he had decided to at least use his time wisely since there were no games coming up soon - and Takeru has his homework finished not long after he finishes cleaning up the kitchen so he takes him outside to play volleyball in the yard for a bit.  

It’s nothing intense.  Takeru is young enough that volleyball is still more fun than competition.  But between his lack of sleep the night before and his actual volleyball practice today it’s enough to drain most of what energy he has left.  He uses almost all of the rest of that to straighten up the living room and fold a load of laundry he finds in there.  By the time Takeru is actually ready for bed and shuffling down the hall to his room Oikawa can barely keep his eyes open long enough to brush his teeth and collapse onto the couch.

“Tooru,” a soft voice chides him as he blinks and snuggles into the couch.  “We asked you to watch Takeru not do half the chores in the house.”

“Hmmm yeah,” he hums and manages to bring his arm, which feels like it weighs a ton, up to rub at his eyes.  “But you’re always so busy so I did the dishes.”

“Which I appreciate.  Do you want a ride home or are you going to use the guest room? You’re not sleeping on the couch.”

He wants to protest that the couch is quite comfortable and he’d be happy to stay right there forever and a day.  But then he remembers he has practice in the morning and if he’s not on time Iwa-chan gets mad and hunts him down and Makki and Mattsun laugh and it’s such a hassle.

“Do you mind giving me a ride?”

“After you took care of everything I had to do tonight?  Not at all.  Not that I would anyway.  You know that.”

He does.  But it’s still nice to hear it from time to time.


	20. i'll drive you to the hospital

He wasn’t used to this.  To this feeling of helplessness and overwhelming fear bubbling in the pit of his stomach.  Sure he wasn’t exactly the pillar of strength for the team, that was Daichi’s role, but he prided himself on his cool head and ability to stop and focus and not panic in tough situations.  But all he knew is he had gotten a message at their week long camp that his mother was in the hospital and then after what felt like just a second and a million years all at once he was being ushered towards the Tanaka siblings’ van with a warm hand on his shoulder and Daichi’s voice low and calm in his ear telling him to just go and he’ll take care of everything here and just let him know when he gets the chance what’s going on.

Now he’s sitting next to Tanaka Saeko with his hands fisted, nails biting at his palms, and his eyes squeezed shut against the world.

He had no idea how serious it was or wasn’t.  The message from his father had just been to get to the hospital as soon as he could which, judging by the way his body was swaying with each curve of the road, would be fairly soon thanks to Saeko’s driving.

His stomach clenches and freezes because what if it was serious?  What if his mother was dying?  His father adored his mother, looked at her like princes look at their princesses in fairy tales.  He wasn’t much better, he knew.  He loved his mother so much that just the thought of something happening to her steals the breath from his lungs and crushes something in his chest.

“Hey,” Saeko says and Suga’s eyes flutter open.  “Just remember that whatever it is, whatever happens you’ll get through it.”  He tilts his head and she glances over at him with a smile.  “You have your family.  Your team.  Your team’s families.  We’re all here for you, okay?  God knows you put up with enough of my baby bro’s shit that I’m here for you.  I would be anyway but don’t let it get out that I’m a softy, okay?”

Suga feels a tiny knot in the ragged mess of his chest loosen a little as Saeko talks to him.  Her voice a steady presence at his side not unlike Daichi and Asahi’s and he lets himself sink into the seat and uncurl his fists.

Until the hospital comes into sight and he stiffens again, all that worry coming crashing back.

“Do you want me to come in with you?”

Saeko’s voice is kind, soft, and despite the adult he almost is, the adult he can usually pass himself off as, he suddenly has the urge to curl up under a blanket and hide until someone comes to find him.  It’s a childish urge but the way she’s looking at him and waiting patiently in the drive between the visitor parking and the doors makes him want to give into it.  So he does.

“Would you?”

“Of course.”

His father looks wary when he spots them, Suga a half step behind her like she’s a shield that can protect him from any bad news he might have to hear, but smiles thankfully when she introduces herself.

“Thank you so much for bringing him here.”  Suga hears his father say as he creeps forward to peek into his mother’s hospital room.

“Anytime.  It’s what big sisters do.”  He feels that hand on his shoulder again, warm and comforting, and Saeko squeezes his shoulder.  “If you guys need anything.  Anything.  Let me or one of the team know, okay?”

He’s not sure if she’s talking to him or his father but he knows they both thank her again before turning and stepping into the hospital room.

Daichi scolds him the next day, playfully, because they had to find out from Tanaka’s sister that it wasn’t anything too serious and Suga is thankful for the millionth time that week that he had the team he did, the family he did.


	21. don't worry about me

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.  Don’t bother.”

“I don’t think you understand how this works, Kei.”  Akiteru doesn’t even have to see his brother’s face to see the eyeroll he’s given.  “Mom and dad are out of town for the week.  You’re sick.  I’m here to take care of you.”

He expects the sound of Kei’s bedroom door shutting behind him.  Expecting it doesn’t make it hurt any less.  They still have a few kinks in their relationship to work out and honestly he can’t really blame Kei for being upset with him.  But at least he talks to him now.

Sort of.

When he’s not holed up in his room shivering under three blankets and surrounded by stuffed animals that he claims he has no idea where they came from and insists that Yamaguchi must have left them out.

Kei shuffles back out of his room while Akiteru is making him some soup and he can feel his little brother’s fevered gaze on his back.

“Thought you were tired.”

“Couldn’t fall asleep.”  If Akiteru remembers right when Kei was sick “couldn’t fall asleep” was code for “didn’t want to be by myself” so he nods and says how much that sucks before he pours Kei a bowl of soup and settles him at the table.  He lets his brother eat his soup in peace, managing to hold back his snort of amusement at the way Kei pulls the blanket around his shoulders tighter and squints down at the bowl in front of him with a scowl on his face; apparently his glasses were too much trouble today and Akiteru can’t help but wonder at just how much younger Kei seems to look without them.  It reminds him a little of the summer they got caught in a storm and both wound up spiking fevers, shivering and whining the next day as they huddled together on his bed.  That was almost twelve years now.

“So,” he says when Kei’s almost finished with his bowl, “you want to head back to your room or do you want me to get the couch set up for you?  I’ll be in there,” he tosses over his shoulder when he grabs Kei’s bowl and heads for the sink to wash it, “but I have an essay to finish writing so I might not be exhilarating company.”

He lets Kei pretend to mull it over, even though he’s ninety percent sure what the answer will be, and when Kei mutters out that he’ll join Akiteru in the living room - only because he wants to watch a movie on the tv instead of his laptop - Akiteru is happy to find that not everything about his little brother has changed the last few years.

Kei grumbles and pouts and shuffles his way to the couch, wriggling and shivering as Akiteru puts in the movie he supposedly wants to watch and settles on the other end, laptop balanced in his lap and essay notes perched on the arm of the couch.  He’s nice enough to not even comment on the fact that without his glasses he’s pretty sure Kei can’t see more than a general fuzzy likeness of any given character on screen.

Five minutes into the movie Kei’s blanketed feet find their way under Akiteru’s thighs.

Ten minutes in his breathing evens out.

Twelve minutes in Akiteru chances a glance to find his brother fast asleep, one hand tucked under his sweaty cheek and the other wrapped in his blanket.

He turns the volume down lower at twenty minutes.

By the time Kei wakes up again it’s nearly sundown and Akiteru’s pretty sure he’s replayed the movie four times for background noise.  That’s okay though.  Jurassic Park five times in one day is nothing compared to the year Kei had the flu for a week.


	22. we'll figure it out

He’s trying.  He’s trying so hard to get this figured out, to integrate himself into the team, to become kind of a universal gear that can work smoothly with all the others.  But there’s still sand and grit between their teeth, they still grind and scrape and catch on each other.  

Hinata was easy, practically like they had been made to work together, a pair of gears manufactured to slide into place alongside each other.  

Tsukishima was tricky.  Mostly because it always felt like they were just off from each other and it was frustrating how close they felt to just clicking into place, only held back by the tiniest sliver of material in the way.

Most of the others fell into place one way or another without much fuss.  Tanaka was simple, not Hinata’s level of simple which was so simple it was complex, but if Tobio put the ball in front of Tanaka he hit it.  Simple.  Ennoshita, Daichi, Kinoshita, Narita, Yamaguchi.  They didn’t play with him like that as much, he didn’t toss for them as much, but they were simple enough to get.  Kinoshita and Narita were flexible enough to hit most tosses.  Daichi stable enough to be an easy target to toss to.  Ennoshita predictable enough for a slightly wider range.  Yamaguchi loose enough to try anything Tobio put in front of him.

But his biggest problem is their ace.  The one player he  _ should _ be able to toss to no matter what.  The one most of their forward motion and points and ambition and trust should lie on.  The one who should be able to break through any obstacle with their help.

He just couldn’t get Asahi’s tosses right.  He thinks part of it might be that niggle of guilt way in the depth of his mind, his very center, that pops up when he sees Asahi ready and a flash of the easy way Suga tosses for him whips through him.  It might be the kind way Asahi mumbles to him when something is off, the look of guilt on  _ his _ face when he can’t quite hit a toss; like it’s his fault and not Tobio’s.  It might even be the slither of fear that still makes it way out of the shadows that tells him if he can’t get this, can’t make this work, he’ll be pulled back and drowned in the darkness.

It’s been nearly two hours of tosses, both to teammates and pinpoint practices with himself, and he still can’t get it.  The spin is always too much, the ball too close or too far from the net, too high and then too low.  It’s eating away at him, crunching through his bones and up his spine, and his fingers shake against the ball in his hands.

A shadow looms over him and he freezes.

“We’ll figure it out.  I’ll stay with you longer if you want.”  Asahi’s voice is quiet, like he’s unsure if Tobio will snap at him, but it’s strong and steady.  The glimpse of the steel framing of that glass heart.

His fingers stop shaking and he breaks the slithering crunching doubt in half as he looks up at Asahi.

“If you don’t mind.  I really want to get your tosses right.”

Asahi nods.  “We can ask Suga to help.  Get an outside perspective of another setter?”

Tobio glances over to the third year setter, to the teen he had replaced but had still been behind him every step so far, guiding him with a warm hand and warm smile.  He nods back at Asahi and feels something start to slip into place.


	23. come here let me fix it

Yachi sighs for what has to be the fifteenth time this afternoon.  Not an unhappy sigh or an angry sigh.  Just a normal really this again sigh.  She fixes the bow in her fingers and slides it into place before sending the owner off with a shy smile and a wave of her hand.  She’s not entirely sure how she became the magic bow fixer.  But she thinks it had something to do with Bokuto dropping to the ground in front of her that morning at breakfast, not even minding the fact he was sitting on the most likely dirty dining room floor in his gym shorts, and shoving a handful of bows onto the table and declaring her the deciding factor in his bow for the day.

A statement that had the entire dining room staring at her as she blushed and floundered and finally picked out a gold and silver bow that matched Bokuto’s hair pretty nicely before securing it into place with a stretchy headband she dug out of the pile.

Now nearly every player from every team at the training camp has a bow of some kind in their hair.  Including the coaches.

Bokuto hurries over with a laugh, hand wrapped around Kenma’s wrist and dark red bow in his other hand.

“Big Brother Bokuto has another customer for you!”

She shakes her head fondly as Bokuto tosses the bow to her before he rushes off to return to practice and Kenma gives her the kind of resigned look that comes from extended exposure to Bokuto.

“Go ahead and have a seat,” she says and waves to the bench in front of her.  “Did you want it clipped in or on a headband?”

“Clipped,” Kenma replies after a moment of consideration.  “Please.”

The rest of the practice matches go fairly smoothly even if it is rather hilarious to watch dozens of teenage boys playing volleyball with various ribbons and bows clipped or headbanded into their hair.  But by the end of the day not a single one looks even remotely embarrassed by it.  Even Tsukishima with his dinosaur print bow and Akaashi with his blue owl bow.

Hinata shuffles by her with a frown on his face and his bow in his hands, Kageyama behind him looking about the same.  She’s pretty sure they had knocked each other’s bows off during a scuffle a few minutes ago and now they’re pouting.

“Come here,” she calls out as they pass her.  “I’ll fix them.”  Kageyama’s head snaps up and she’s glad she’s finally getting a hang of reading the glimmers in his eyes, especially corresponding with Hinata’s shouts, because a few months ago she would have been a little afraid of that look.  Now she sees it as the excitement it is as she pats the bench in front of her.

When she had dazedly agreed to be manager-in-training for Karasuno she never ever ever imagined she’d one day soon be attaching a bow to a thin headband for a bubbly orange haired ball of sunshine and slipping another one on a clip into the hair of his socially awkward rival slash teammate while the other first years of the team look on with muffled giggles as if they’re not already wearing bows in their hair.


	24. it's not heavy i'm stronger than i look

The boxes in her arms tip precariously and she has enough time for her rapid fire imagination to think about a hundred different outcomes - falling and breaking a bone or her neck, dropping them and having them burst open, knocking into someone and having  _ them _ fall and break something, dropping them on a poor unsuspecting dog, hitting the fire alarm and causing mass panic through the entire school just to name a few - before a warm hand settles on her shoulder and another, she assumes, straightens the stack of boxes that are taller than she is.  Which doesn’t take much to be honest.

“You really need to be careful.” Kiyoko’s soft voice reaches her and she flushes.  Of course who would save her but an angel?  “Do you need help carrying those?”

Yachi shakes her head vehemently before realizing that Kiyoko has stepped back in front of her and can’t see her motion.  “Oh no no no I’m fine.  I’m stronger than I look!”

“I’m sure you are.”  Two boxes disappear and suddenly she has a perfect view of Kiyoko’s face.  “But strong or not you should still make sure you can see where you’re going.  I can’t have my manager in training getting hurt, can I?”  Yachi simply shakes her head while Kiyoko adjusts her grip on the boxes.  “So where are we headed with these?”

“Ah to the gym!  I got a bunch of stuff for the school festival for the team to work on and I found some cool posters and banners we can put up to announce the next games and -” she finds herself easily rambling on and on about all the cool stuff she found and her ideas for the rest of the year and for next year when Kiyoko is gone.  “Not that I’m trying to push you out or take over your spot or say you’ve been doing a bad job or anything.”  She gasps suddenly, realizing how ungrateful she may be sounding.  “I just want to make sure I can support them as well as you have.”

“I know.”

“It’s funny,” Yachi hums as they set the boxes down inside the gym doors and watch the boys stretching, “when I started I didn’t know anything about the sport or the team or anything here but now all I can think about is keeping them going, you know.  Like all I want to do is see them all happy and safe when they play.  Winning, preferably, but even if they don’t I want to be there for them.”

“I know the feeling.  I never thought I’d want to be manager of a bunch of rowdy teenage boys.  But now they’re my family and it’s been amazing and it makes me happy that you feel the same way.”

Kiyoko’s smile is beautiful and serene and Yachi is once again in awe of how collected and in control the other girl is when Tanaka and Noya rush over to them, chattering loudly as she collects her clipboard and nods politely at them.  She’s not sure if she’ll ever be able to inspire the team the way Kiyoko has or be able to keep an eye on them all so well but she’s determined to do her best at it.  When Hinata hangs his head after she scolds him over not being careful when chasing loose volleyballs around the gym and she hands Tsukishima a towel and he actually gives her a tiny smile before taking it she thinks that maybe she’ll be okay after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> while this is chapter 24 it actually is the 25th prompt written so as of this chapter we're 1/4 of the way done!


	25. i bought you a ticket

“Thank you for inviting me.”  Akaashi’s voice is quiet and calm, a change from when Ennoshita had last heard it on the other side of the net, chastising his team with a subtle eyebrow raised at their concerns as he ushered them into the locker room on his side of the net.  “I have to apologize again for my team’s antics.”

Ennoshita laughs as he hands over one of the tickets in his hand and turns towards the theatre.  “It’s fine.  My team was rather vocal themselves about their new captain ‘conspiring with the enemy captain’ and all that when we got back to the locker room.”  He shrugs as Akaashi slips beside him, shoulder brushing his as they walk, and smiles.  “I offered to let some of the others join us but this is the theatre Tanaka and Tsukishima are banned from and Hinata has makeup homework still.  The rest found convenient excuses not to see it.”

“I think it sounds interesting.  Though I could have bought the ticket you know.  Your invitation alone was a kind enough gesture.”  Akaashi pauses as they step to the back of the line outside the building.  “And I’ll bite on the bait and ask that you share how those two managed to be banned from a theatre later.”

“I bought the ticket.  I figured you’d have enough money to spend to take the train back home since you’re not taking the bus with the rest of the team.”

“Well thank you.  It’s not often that I get to watch a movie that isn’t a cartoon and doesn’t come with hours of commentary unless I go alone.”

“And that’s just no fun at all.”

They share a smile as they head inside.  “Exactly.”

 

“Okay, so,” Akaashi says and Ennoshita hums while he pushes himself a little on the swing he’s seated on, “this thing with Tanaka and Tsukishima being banned?”

“Oh.”  He sighs as he looks around the park.  It’s empty save for a couple of kids cutting through to the neighborhood on the back side.  “Well apparently the last movie they tried to see together was boring.  I was told there were some comments tossed back and forth between them and a middle aged mother of three.”  Akaashi stares at him and Ennoshita can only shrug because yeah, his team had a lot of mouthy teens on it.  “Then there was apparently some popcorn tossed.”  He thinks he hears Akaashi snicker but he continues without mentioning it.  “And something about a cup of soda that ‘accidentally’ slipped out of Tsukishima’s hand and magically flew three rows forward.  At least that’s what I was told and honestly I didn’t want any other details.”

“I can’t even say I’m surprised since I’ve seen the way those two can get when they feel like being rowdy together.”

“They are a handful but I can kind of understand that stupidly fond look Daichi would get when he watched us last year.”

A small smile slips onto Akaashi’s face as he leans back in the swing and watches the evening sky darken.  “Families,” he says quietly, “what can you do with them right?”


	26. did you get my letter?

It’s really the last thing he expects, especially since he and Kuroo text all the time these days now that Daichi is at a Tokyo university.  Not quite as much as he and Suga or he and Asahi do, Kuroo has yet to reach best friend level of texting but he’s attempting to.  As if the very thought of him summons his attention Daichi’s phone vibrates with a new text message from Kuroo as he stares down at the envelope on his counter.

_ Cap’n Cat:  Did you get my letter? _

_ Daichi:  Why did you send me a letter?  We text all the time.  We see each other 3 times a week.  You’re texting me right now. _

_ Cap’n Cat:  All that is true but come on.  There’s something nice about seeing a letter addressed to you.  Right?  Makes your place feel a little more like home? _

Something knots in his chest and then loosens a breath later.  Because of course Kuroo remembers that conversation.  It had been his first week in Tokyo, their first week of university, and they had been somewhere between tipsy and flat out drunk on a bottle of questionable something or another that Daichi still can’t believe he let Kuroo talk him into drinking.  They had shared secrets that weren’t really secrets between breathy laughs with flushed cheeks.

Kuroo told him how he was worried for Kenma and the others, how they would work together without him there to tease and poke and pull the awkwardness into the light of day.

Daichi had told Kuroo how his tiny cheap just off campus apartment felt strangely empty considering how much of his stuff was crammed into it.

Kuroo told about the time he had mistakenly called Yaku mom and kissed his cheek while sick.

Daichi admitted to calling Suga mom unironically (and missing him almost as much as his actual mother.)

Somewhere between the bottle emptying and the sun rising they had fallen asleep on the floor of Kuroo’s apartment.  Daichi had woken up with a dry mouth, Kuroo’s head under his shoulder, and a severe aversion to artificial watermelon flavor.

Months later he’s staring at a cutesy envelope with matching stationery and rolling his eyes at the little watermelon with it’s blushing cheeks and little heart inside a pink speech bubble.

 

_ Sawamura Daichi, _

_ There’s a lot of things we’ve already said to each other.  A lot of things we knew before we even really talked properly.  There’s also a lot we have never said. _

_ One of those things is that I’m glad we’re friends, glad you texted me back after our last match, glad you get drunk with me and indulge in my ridiculousness and tell me stupid secrets that are really a surprise to no one. _

_ Here’s to hoping that you’re glad too. _

_ Your friend, _

_ Kuroo _

 

He debates what to do with it for a minute before sticking it on the fridge with the volleyball magnets the team had given him as a graduation gift.

It does make him feel a little more like he’s at home here in his tiny cramped place with the squeaky closet door and window that sticks open.

He digs through his boxes and bags until he finds the stationery set that the magnets had come with.

 

_ Kuroo Tetsurou,  _ he writes,  _ I received your letter and it was a nice surprise. _


	27. i'm sorry for your loss

Yahaba gives one last look over his shoulder to the third years still in the locker room as he ushers out the rest of the team.  His eyes meet Oikawa’s and a grin flashes across his captain’s face.  It’s a smile he knows is all show for the other team members should they look back right now, a shiny thing that is brittle if you give it more than a half a second’s glance, and it makes Yahaba’s chest hurt.  He’s not sure if it’s his heart stuttering or his lungs clenching or his ribs wanting to cave in under the weight of the sudden responsibilities he can feel pressing down on him.

He mouths one word -  _ sorry  _ \- and slides a smile that matches Oikawa’s, in meaning if not intensity, onto his face before turning and letting the door slip shut behind him.

Oikawa takes a deep breath and lets the smile crumble from his face as his shoulders fall at the sound of the door clicking shut.

“Well.  This sucks.”  Matsukawa is face down on a bench, face pressed into a towel and voice muffled.  Hanamaki is on another bench, face up and eyes distant as he stares at the ceiling.  Iwaizumi is standing at the lockers with his forehead pressed against the cool metal and eyes closed tight.

It was over.  Done.  They had lost and the sound of the ball rushing past him fills his ears.  The weight of his captaincy wraps around his throat and tries to wrench itself from the spaces between his bones.  Their last official high school match.  The crown of leadership slides from his head and shatters in his veins.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs.  His voice soft and tiny in the locker room.  It was his fault.  He was the captain.  The one meant to lead them all and show them to victory.  The one to help lay out the path for their ace to follow.  The one responsible for their victories and losses and-

“Dumbass.”  Hanamaki snickers at Iwaizumi’s voice and drops his eyes from the mysteries of the ceiling to focus his gaze on his fellow third years.  “You always forget what I tell you.”

“The one who lets the ball fall on the court loses, Iwa-chan.  That was me.”

“We’re a team, Oikawa.  We practice as a team.  We win as a team.  We lose as a team.  There are six players on the court at any given time and the team with the better six is stronger.  Karasuno was just better than us today.”

“Which sucks.”  Matsukawa adds helpfully from where his face is still smushed against his towel.  “A lot.”

“Agreed.”  Hanamaki sighs and gets up from his bench only to sit on Matsukawa’s bench near his head.  “But win or lose you’re our captain.”

“And our ace.”  Matsukawa points in the direction he thinks Iwaizumi is and is rewarded with an amused huff which lets him know he was about two feet off and he corrects his pointing.

“So do whatever you have to do.  Yell.  Cry.  Throw something at Issei’s head.”  He ignores the muffled protest and keeps going, eyes locked on Oikawa’s before drifting over to Iwaizumi’s.  “Both of you.  Whatever.  Just do it.  We all will.  Then we walk out and leave it here.”

They don’t talk about it.  Don’t mention the tears that ran like sweat to gather in each other’s collars.  Don’t talk about the way Matsukawa’s face was blotchy or the way Oikawa’s eyes were red.  Don’t mention how Iwaizumi’s fingers were tangled so hard in Hanamaki’s shirt it left wrinkles as Hanamaki nearly bit a hole in his own lip to keep his voice in.

They leave it all in the locker room and when they finally emerge, finally meet back up with the team Yahaba is relieved to see that Oikawa’s smile is less brittle, less bitter, less heartbroken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> because showing love and support is just as important during bad times as it is good


	28. you're warm

The sun had set hours ago and everyone else was long since asleep, their quiet breaths filling the room as he tosses and turns as quietly as he can; the last thing he wants to do is actually wake someone up, no matter how lonely he feels staring up at the ceiling.  After turning from his left side staring at the wall to his right side staring at Yamaguchi’s back and then back to the wall for what felt like the tenth time that minute he finally sits up and tiptoes over to the door.  Maybe a quick walk would settle some of the restlessness in him.

He’s surprised when he makes it outside without running into anyone.  For some reason he had had a picture in his head of all the adults making rounds like guards to make sure they all stayed inside and slept properly and all that.  He giggles a little at the thought of Coach Ukai in a guard’s uniform with his bleach blonde hair shining bright as he slips outside and heads towards the gyms.  He doesn’t plan on playing, it’s not nearly as much fun alone now that he can play with a full team and he figures the doors are locked up tight anyway.

He just wants to sit there, to be as close to his dreams as he can even on a cool starry night at camp.

He’s surprised again when he turns the corner of the closest gym and finds someone else already seated on the steps and looking up at the sky.

“Heyo.”  Bokuto’s voice carries around the corner Hinata had ducked back behind, clear and crisp in the night even though he was keeping it uncharacteristically quiet.  “You couldn't sleep either?”

Hinata creeps back around the corner, a little in awe of the fact that Bokuto had noticed him without even taking his eyes from the sky, and shuffles through the damp grass.

“Yeah.  Usually I don’t have much problem with it but,” his voice trails off as he reaches the steps and glances down at the other teen with a shrug, “I dunno I just couldn’t tonight.”

“I understand.”  Bokuto’s grin could probably rival the moon in the sky when he flashes it to Hinata and pats the step next to him.  “Have a seat.”

Hinata never would have thought of Bokuto as calming.  He had never really given the other teen much thought at all to be honest other than knowing he was an awesome player and blocker and that he was cool to look up to and friendly even to a first year like Hinata.  But sitting there next to him and watching the clouds in the starry sky drift by was relaxing and he could feel himself starting to drift, feel his mind slowly shutting off as he spiraled towards sleep.  Or maybe it was the warmth the older teen gave off as he shifted and propped his chin on his knees, elbow brushing Hinata’s arm as he told himself he should get up and go back to bed before he fell asleep or Suga woke up and came looking for him.

“You’re so warm.”

“Yeah I run kind of hot,” Bokuto says with a laugh that’s just as soft as his first words to Hinata had been that night.  “Been told I make a good space heater.”

“You do,” Hinata mumbles as his eyes start to drift close and he leans a little to the side.  “But it’s not just that.  You’re so nice.  Helpful and patient even to a volleyball brain like me.  It’s nice.  Warm.”  He yawns and gives into the temptation to lean into that warmth beside him, head bumping against Bokuto’s shoulder.

“You’re pretty warm yourself, Hinata,” Bokuto says as Hinata’s breathing evens out.  “I have a feeling I won’t even hold a candle to your brilliance some day.”

Hinata is light in his arms and it warms him to his core that the younger teen is comfortable enough around him to stay asleep as he picks him up and carries him carefully back to his team’s room.  Sawamura opens the door at his soft knock and smiles knowingly, and sleepily, when Bokuto hands over the tiny crow to his captain.


	29. i was in the neighborhood

It had been a brilliant idea.  Absolutely flawless.  One hundred percent success rate.  But now that he’s knocked on the door and is waiting for someone to answer he can suddenly see a dozen different flaws with his plan, or lack of one, and he’s wondering why he’s doing this and if it’s too late to maybe just head back and pretend he was never here.

But then the door is swinging open and he has no choice but to square his shoulders and dive in headfirst with a grin on his face.

Business as usual for him, then.

“Hinata?”  Yamaguchi looks down at him in surprise.  “What are you doing here?”

“Well,” Hinata draws out the word with a grin, “I was in the neighborhood and remembered you lived here and thought I’d stop by.”

“In the neighborhood?”

“Yep.”

They both know the truth.  Hinata sucks at lying and Yamaguchi knows he lives at least a half hour away with no reason to be in the small residential neighborhood that Yamaguchi lives in.  But after a moment of deliberation Yamaguchi simply stands aside and waves Hinata in.

They wind up sprawled in Yamaguchi’s room flipping through magazines.  Hinata is flopped across the foot of Yamaguchi’s bed and he’s propped up against the headboard.  Neither of them have said much in the past hour and Yamaguchi wonders how long Hinata can go before the urge to talk sneaks up on him and bursts out.  He knows Hinata has gotten a little more patient since the start of their first year but long bouts of silence aren’t really his thing.  Tsukki on the other hand…

As if Hinata can sense the direction his thoughts are turning he perks up and tosses the magazine in his hand onto the nearby desk before twisting up onto his knees and crawling beside Yamaguchi.

“So.”

“So,” Yamaguchi replies, eyes still glued to the same sentence he’s been reading for the last ten minutes.

“What’s your favorite pie?”

Yamaguchi drops the magazine and looks at Hinata in confusion.  He wonders if Hinata’s making a joke or setting up a trick of some kind or something.  But all he sees is Hinata’s usual eager smile and twinkling eyes filled with curiosity and Yamaguchi blinks a few times to clear the sparkles from his vision.

“Pie?”

“Yeah.  Kenma is in love with apple pie and I just don’t understand.  It’s not that great to me.  So I wondered if there was something I was missing?  Do you like apple pie?”

“It’s alright I suppose.  But if I had to pick I would actually prefer peach.”

“Oh that’s a nice choice.”  Hinata turns and leans against the headboard, shoulder pressing into Yamaguchi’s as he starts naming off his favorite desserts.

Yamaguchi didn’t plan on spending the night - or the rest of the week - talking to Hinata about desserts and books and movies and childhood dreams and whatever topics came to mind.  But he did anyway and it helped.  It helped that Hinata truly enjoyed talking to him about random stuff.  It helped that Hinata didn’t make him talk about the fight he and Tsukki had gotten into the day before the other teen had left for a week long trip with his family.  It helped that Hinata was Hinata and drug Yamaguchi along with him for the week, drug him into conversations and laughter and extra practices.

Hinata was Hinata and Tsukki was Tsukki and each of their teammates was their own person but in the end they were still a team.

Which is what he reminds both himself and Tsukki of when he comes back at the end of the week.


	30. you're important too

He stares up at the clouds and can practically feel each second ticking past, can feel the sky pressing down on him, can feel the day, the week, the year bearing down on him and breathing down his neck.  They’re going to be third years before they know it.   _ He’s _ going to be a third year before he knows it.  Somehow it feels a little like those days leading up to becoming a first year had been.  That expectation roiling in his stomach, churning and pulsing through his veins, a constant buzz of energy waiting to find an outlet.

Those days were sweet with anticipation. A cotton candy shroud covering his life and masking the worries of the future.

But the days ahead of him now are laced with a shot of bitterness and when he licks his lips he swears it tastes like the remnants of lemon frosting.

But that could just be leftovers from his lunch.

He usually leaves the deep thinking to Ennoshita after all.

Deep thinking and leadership for Ennoshita.  


Boundless energy and a knack for guiding without meaning to for Tanaka.

A double shot of boundless energy and an unbreaking will for Nishinoya.

There wasn’t much else that was needed from third years.  Nothing much else for Narita and himself.

He wheezes in surprise as a volleyball hits him squarely in the gut and bounces past him into the nearby trees.

“Sorry!”  Hinata shouts and scrambles up to him.  “Are you alright?”

He waves the concern off and points out the volleyball with a small smile on his face as Hinata jumps after it with a shout.

“Better question, why were you daydreaming instead of practicing?”  Daichi’s voice surprises him and he carefully pushes himself to his feet and brushes off imaginary blades of grass before turning to face his captain.

The weight of the time flashing by bears down on him as he meets Daichi’s eyes with a shrug. He opens his mouth to say something, maybe a mild snarky reply, and that lemon frosting bittersweet taste rushes off his tongue and clogs his throat and he swallows hard instead.

“There’s plenty of room, you know.”  Daichi taps the toes of one athletic shoe against the ground and gives him a look.  His voice is quiet.  Intense in a way that often seems frightening.  “If you truly want to be out there.  If you’re not afraid to try for it.”  Their eyes drift towards the others.  Towards Suga working with Noya on tosses and Yamaguchi and Kageyama working on serving.  Ennoshita and Narita and Tsukishima working on receives.  Daichi’s voice grows soft and fond and he swallows hard again when he realizes that this is just for him.  Just for them right now and that in another year this could be him standing here with someone else, with a younger team member who is unsure and a little afraid.  “And even if you don’t make it out into the spotlight that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty that needs done behind the scenes.”

Daichi heads back towards the team and leaves him to stare after him with his words ringing in his head.

“Every single member of this team is important Kinoshita.  Don’t forget that.”

He looks up at the clouds.  Time is still rushing in on him, surrounding him and lapping at his ankles like waves, but a little of that bitterness washes away with each ticking second and he jogs back to the team with a small smile on his face.

Maybe there was more room for them than he had thought.


	31. what do you want to watch?

They really should have been studying.  Or thinking of new drills.  Or coming up with different potential plays to work on.  Or really just about anything.

But when the sun is setting and the room is warm and Asahi is already laying on his back with a book on his face and his feet hanging off Daichi’s bed really what motivation is there to do more work?

Suga groans and flops onto his stomach, hair sweaty and shirt stuck to his back as he rubs his nose on Daichi’s floor.

“Is it break time yet?”

“Really?”  Daichi glances up from his textbook with a frown when he notices Asahi’s feet hanging off the bed.  “Have you two done any work?”

“One I have an entire page of work problems finished,” Suga says with his face still pressed to the carpet.  “Two do not take that Captain tone with me Sawamura Daichi.  I am too warm to deal with you right now.”

“I think I’m dying,” Asahi groans from his spot.  “Can you die from being too hot and your brain being overworked?”

“No.”

“You sure Daichi?  Cause I feel like my brain’s gonna melt through my ears.  That would be bad.  I’d get your sheets dirty with brain goo.”

“Yes Asahi I’m sure.”

“Let’s take a break just in case.”  Suga rolls onto his back and gives Daichi a pleading look.  “Please oh great Captain.”

Asahi grunts and flops around until he’s leaning over the edge of the bed and matching Suga’s pleading look.  “Maybe a movie?”

Daichi looks from one best friend to the other and sighs.

“Fine.  What are we watching?”

A half hour later he’s stretched out on the living room floor using Asahi’s stomach as a pillow while Suga is doing the same to him and he can’t help but roll his eyes when Suga rolls onto his side and nuzzles his face into Daichi’s stomach for a moment.

“I thought you were both so incredibly hot and sweaty and unable to focus cause it was so warm.”

“It’s cooler out here,” Suga says.

“And this warm is nice.  That warm was stifling,” Asahi adds as he adjusts the pillow under his head and turns the volume up a little.  “Now hush the movie is starting.”

Asahi squeaks when Daichi pokes his hip.  “Azumane Asahi do not hush me.”

“Yes oh great Captain Daichi.”


	32. it doesn't bother me

He wasn’t entirely sure why exactly he wanted to do it.  Kageyama would probably tell him he had some sort of death wish.  Yachi would say it was his lack of self-preservation skills.  Yamaguchi, the enabler, would simply tell him to go ahead and try it if he wanted to.  And he did.  He didn’t know if it was the almost forbidden feeling to it, like it was put up behind glass that only crafty cats and freckled crows and headstrong owls were allowed past.  Or if it was more because it felt like it was just out of reach, a prize pushed back on the top shelf that he could just brush his fingers across when he jumped to his max height.

Or maybe it was simply because he was naturally curious and wanted to see Tuskishima’s reaction.

(A tiny part of him whispers that it’s more because he wants to see Tsukishima as frustrated as he makes Hinata himself some days.)

But he isn’t sure if he can be casual about it or if he’ll drop the words with all the delicacy and coordination of a deer on ice and go stumbling past Tsukishima to crash into the nearest solid object and wish he had never been born.

It’s actually a lot easier than he expects.

They’re the first two into the club room to change one day and Tsukishima tosses Hinata a roll of tape as soon as he’s finished with it.

“Thanks, Tsukki.”

Hinata has two fingers taped before his words register and he looks up in a panic only to see Tsukishima watching him with an eyebrow raised and an amused look on his face.

“Sorry.  I didn’t mean to call you that.  I just-”

Tsukishima shrugs and pulls on his gym shirt before swapping his glasses for his practice pair.  “It doesn’t bother me.  Surprisingly.”  He adds when Hinata just stares at him.  “We’re third years.  Honestly Hinata I’m more surprised it hasn’t slipped out of your mouth before now.  What with how little room you have up there for things like actual words.”

An hour later Tsukishima is regretting his decision when he scolds Hinata for the fourth time this practice about not getting sidetracked and setting a better example for the younger members and Hinata grins at him.

“Sorry, Tsukki.”

“Shut up, Hinata!”  He snaps and then turns to glare at his giggling freckled captain.  “Shut up, Yamaguchi!”

“Sorry, Tsukki.”  Yamaguchi giggles again and gives him a smile.

There are days Tsukishima regrets sticking with volleyball.  Today is quickly becoming one of them.


	33. watch your step

It’s a little frightening when you stop and think about the fact that literally every single thing in your life comes from a moment of action or inaction.  Every.  Single.  Thing.  From being late to class to getting an A on a test to spraining your ankle.  Each one of them stems from a hundred tiny choices, a million even, that you didn’t even consciously choose that lead to one you did.

The choice to leave or stay.

The choice to come back or stay away.

The choice to ignore the ball or dive for it.

Each choice was the culmination of hundreds upon hundreds of choices before.  From the moment you woke up to the moment you fell asleep you made choices.

And sometimes the choice you made was to react without thinking, trusting your instincts to take you where you were going.

Which led to you hobbling to the nurse’s office with your arm over your vice-captain’s shoulder because said instincts led you straight into Yamaguchi’s path.

“It’s probably nothing serious,” Suga says with a smile that makes his stomach settle a little despite the pain throbbing from his ankle.

“Even if it is it’s not like it matters much.”

“Narita.”  Suga scolds him as they slowly make their way down the hallway.  “Don’t say that.  Every one of us is important to the team.”

“Easy for you to say.  You’re vice-captain.  You take care of all of us.  You keep Daichi calm.   _ You’re _ important to the team.  I’m… I’m just a number.

“You’re not  _ just _ anything, Narita.  You’re a Crow.  You’re one of us.  Are Yachi or Kiyoko any less important because they don’t get to be on the court?  Am I any less important as a backup?”  Suga’s eyes always remind him of spring.  Of lightness and new beginnings.  But he always forgets that spring brings storms too, wild winds and cloudy skies that shake him to his core.  “If you really want it, really want to be more than  just a number, then do it.  Find something on this team for you, that  _ you _ can do better than the rest of us, and make us see it.”

Suga’s words rattle around in his head as the nurse wraps his ankle - it was just a mild sprain and he’ll be as good as new in a week or so - and he wonders if there’s anything for him.  Anything just for him on the team.

If he should take that step forwards and find out.

 

Yamaguchi is waiting with stumbling apologies when he limps through the door the next morning and he waves them off with a smile and leans in towards the first year.

“I have an idea I want to try with you.”


	34. i dreamt about you last night

He drops onto the roof next to Iwaizumi with a sigh and leans back on his hands; he feels like he’s been waiting for lunch time to hit for days now and all he wants is for Makki to come with his drink so he can properly get started.  After what feels like another three days he finally does show up with Oikawa bubbling at his side as they step through the doorway.  The bottle is handed over with the added bonus of Makki immediately flopping over his lap and curling around him like a cat as soon at the drink exchanges hands.

“Oh are we cuddling today?”  Makki doesn’t respond, simply curls a little tighter and he exchanges worried glances with Oikawa and Iwaizumi.  It’s not unusual for Makki and himself to touch a lot, to flop against each other or fall asleep on the other’s shoulder.  But there’s usually a quip or sarcastic comment tossed out at some point.

The silence from his friend bothers him more than any touching ever would.

He eats his lunch, one hand absently rubbing circles into Makki’s back even as he jokes with Oikawa about his hair - and ego - deflating a little in the warm afternoon sun, laughing softly when Iwaizumi agrees and Oikawa pouts.

When they finish Iwaizumi gathers his stuff and even holds out his hand for Matsukawa’s trash which he hands over with a smile as Iwaizumi eyes Makki and then looks at him before dragging Oikawa off earlier than usual.

“Okay the power couple is gone.  Just you and me now.”  He leans back on his hands again and studies the clouds in the sky.

“I had a dream about you last night.”  It’s pretty much the first thing he’s heard Makki say all day and he frowns as he turns the words over in his head.

“And that led to cuddling?  You know I don’t mind it.”  He adds when Makki tenses.  “I’m just… confused.”

“Things didn’t end so well in the dream.  For anyone but especially for you.  And I just, I dunno, had to reassure myself.”

“I’m fine, Makki.”

“I know.  It was just,” Makki sighs and sits up carefully, eyes slowly drifting up to meet his, “horribly realistic.”

He hooks his arm around Makki’s shoulder and pulls him against his side with a sigh.

“Well I’m here and I’m perfectly healthy.  You’re here and you’re okay.  Oikawa is probably trying to get away from Iwaizumi and come eavesdrop on us.  We’re okay.”  That at least makes Makki look a little less like he’s going to throw up on him which is a plus.  It happened once when they were first years and he’d like to never repeat the experience.  “Whatever happened wasn’t real but if you need a hug or something to reassure yourself of that I’m always here for it.  I’m sure the others are too.”  He waits until Makki looks more like himself before pulling away and leaning on his hands once again.  “Though if you ever decide to surprise hug Iwaizumi let me know so I can get that on camera.”


	35. look both ways

It becomes a habit for all of them.  No one knows when it started or who did it first but it’s second nature before any of them realize it.

No one even notices until halfway through the first year and Hinata has his sister with for a trip to the store and he runs into some of the team.

“Now Natsu,” he says sternly, “make sure you always look where you’re going.”

She looks at him, tiny hand firmly in his own, and then to the group around them.

“But you never do.  They always do for you.”

Yamaguchi snickers and Tsukishima scoffs while Tanaka preens.

“That’s because we have to look out for our kouhai, Sunflower.”

“Cause he can’t look out for himself,” Tsukishima mutters.

 

No one had noticed it before.  But now that Natsu has brought it to their attention and news of that day’s meeting spreads through the team they can’t seem to  not notice it.

Tanaka walks closer to the road, keeping Hinata away from traffic.

Suga carefully steers Hinata with soft touches to his elbow or shoulder to keep him from running into a lamp post or trash bin.

Kageyama grabs his hood and drags him closer when they’re in the middle of a mass of people so he doesn’t get separated.

Even Tsukishima will stop in front of Hinata at crosswalks to get him to stop when there’s traffic coming (by far the most passive-aggressive means of looking out for him in the entire group but he still does it.)

They do it in a way that rarely interrupts whatever conversation Hinata is having (other than the brief shouting of Kageyama strangling him with his hood or Tsukishima trying to break his nose with his school bag) and so naturally you’d think they’d been doing it for years, not months.

Outside of school or inside.  At practice or matches.  They all have some kind of Hinata protection instinct that kicks in.

Hinata is in the middle of rambling about some tv show Natsu made him watch the night before as the first years walk home after practice when he jerks to a stop with Yamaguchi’s hand on his elbow and Kageyama’s fist in his hood. Tsukishima is a couple steps ahead of them at the crosswalk directly in front of Hinata.

“Look both ways dumbass,” Kageyama growls before they cross the street.

A block later Kageyama and Yamaguchi still have a hold of him and Tsukishima is still leading the way and Hinata feels pretty special right then.  Like he’s some important leader and the others are his trusted bodyguards.

He couldn’t wait to tell Natsu this story tonight.


	36. here drink this, you'll feel better

Kenma takes the bottle of water that bumps against his cheek and swallows three large gulps before he bothers opening his eyes with a murmured thanks that cuts off when he sees who’s standing next to him.  Kageyama Tobio has not gotten any less imposing in the year since Kenma first met him.  Those eyes still sparkle and flare with an intensity that makes every nerve in his body stand on edge when they focus in on him.  Especially at close range like this.  Kenma may be observant but he swears Kageyama can see straight through him with those eyes, that concentrated gaze focusing in on him like sun through a magnifying glass and Kenma is bound to burn under the heat.

Then Kageyama blinks and slides to sit down next to him with a frown that is equal parts disappointment and pout.

“Captains have to take care of everyone.  Including themselves.”

Kageyama’s words are nearly lost under Shouyou’s shout echoing through the gym and Kenma feels his gaze drawn from the dark opponent at his side to the bright friend across the gym.

If Shouyou’s gaze is the bright sun, warming and brightening everything around him, lighting everything in a hazy glow then Kageyama’s is a spotlight, beaming down at you with focus and intensity that makes the sweat creep along your hairline and gather in your collar.  Both leave him feeling equally out of sorts and dizzy when he’s exposed to them for too long.

“It’s not the same challenge if you’re not at your best to play against.”

Their gazes aren’t the only opposite thing about them.  It’s Shouyou’s vibrant warmth that draws Kenma in like a cat to a sunny windowsill, ready to bask in the glow of him.  But it’s Kageyama’s intensity that drags Kenma to him, a black hole of curiosity that gnaws at his mind and pulls at his core, daring him to set himself adrift in the very sea of stars that makes him feel so unsettled.

“I’m still not sure I should have been captain.”  Kenma blinks in surprise at the admission that slips from his lips.  Not because it’s false - it’s very, very true - but because he doesn’t know why he’s telling this.  To Kageyama of all people.  He hasn’t even mentioned it to Shouyou and Kuroo simply tells him he picked him for a reason, though he refuses to share what that reason is.

Kageyama’s eyes are on the volleyball in the air, flying from Shouyou to Lev to Tanaka to Yamamoto with excited shouts all around, as he pulls his knees to his chest and settles his chin on them.

“Ennoshita has said the same thing about himself.  But I think that makes a captain even better somehow.  Because they try harder to prove that they’re captain for a reason.  Or at least try harder to prove that  their captain made the right choice.”

The ball glances off the arms of a first year Karasuno player Kenma has yet to meet and bounces past Ennoshita who is practicing his recieves with Tsukishima and the smallest of smiles slips onto his face.  Because he can feel Ennoshita’s determination from here.  He can tell with a look the amount of time the other captain has been putting into practice not just for himself but with other members.  He remembers all the times he’s set aside his game console or phone and picked up a volleyball or strategy board instead.

“You’re a good setter to play against and I’m sure Kuroo picked you because you’re a good captain for your team.  Once you catch your breath let’s keep playing.”

“Okay.”

After a year of volleyball with Karasuno Kageyama may be even more intense somehow, now that he’s managed to get the words in his mind to cross his lips.  But like any good game that just means playing against him is more of a challenge.


	37. you don't have to say anything

For someone as loud and vibrant and in your face as Nishinoya was he could be surprisingly quiet when the situation called for it and it always seemed to happen when Kei least expected it.  Like right now with his head throbbing and his knees unsteady the last thing he wants to deal with is the explosive energy that is Nishinoya Yuu.  Which is, naturally, the moment Nishinoya charges up the stairs to the clubroom and bursts in the door, all light and good cheer and exuberance to start practice.

Kei grunts and buries his face into his bag as the door slams open and shut, a flash of bright daylight washing across him before the room goes dark again.

“Tsukishima?”  Nishinoya shuffles through the dark and he flinches; even in the dark Nishinoya is too bright, too much.  Warm fingers squeeze his shoulder.  “Why don’t you just go home if you’re not feeling well?”

“Just need quiet and dark for an hour or so and I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.”

With that soft assurance the warmth is gone from his shoulder and the flash of light from the door comes and goes and he’s in silence again and he’s half dozing in a matter of minutes.

He hears some shuffles, catches the occasional blink of light, but for the most part it’s blissful silence and darkness as his headache slowly ebbs to nothingness and he can finally stand without feeling like the world is off balance.  He doesn’t bother with the lights as he grabs his stuff, determined to just go home and sleep away the rest of the afternoon, and nearly trips when he opens the door and Nishinoya tumbles into the club room.

“Why aren’t you at practice?”

“Cause it ended like an hour ago?  I grabbed whatever anyone needed before and after practice so they wouldn’t disturb you and got the key to lock up when you were ready to leave.”  Nishinoya hops to his feet with a grin.  “So you feeling better?”

There it was again, knocking the wind right out of Kei’s lungs, that quietness that he doesn’t expect.  Sometimes he wonders how he could miss seeing it when it’s everywhere.  In the set of Nishinoya’s jaw and the quirk of his smile.  In the tilt of his head as he eyes Kei and twirls the keys around his finger, soft jingling filling the air between them.  He saw it when Nishinoya was in motion on the court; eyes quick as he practically glided around the other players, instincts kicking in with fluid grace and precise motions without wasted effort.

He was the presence guarding all of their backs, the quiet unassuming steel backbone of Karasuno that never asked for attention - though he did demand it on occasion to draw focus away from the way he was so small and quiet and soft for them as well.

“I suppose I am.”

It’s not until they’re about ready to part ways near the convenience store that he speaks again.

“Thank you, Nishinoya-senpai.  For everything.”

The smile he gets in response tells him what words don’t.  That Nishinoya understands what he’s saying, what he’s thanking him for, and he takes the thanks as quietly as ever.

“Any time, Tsukishima.  Someone’s gotta look out for all you kids you know.”


	38. i believe in you

“It- it can take some time,” Asahi says quietly and Hinata glances up from his spot on the floor.  

Asahi seems so big all the way up there and so so small at the same time.  Hinata can never quite understand why Asahi seems so nervous around him, tense and wary like Hinata’s a wild animal that’s going to strike at the first wrong move.  He’ll admit that he can be intense and has heard the others murmuring about a wild look in his eyes sometimes but he’d never ever hurt anyone, especially not anyone as kind as Asahi is and especially since he wants to be like him someday.  He’ll never have Asahi’s size, even if he gets a growth spurt one of these days, and there’s not much about him that is intimidating no matter what the others say, but one day he will be Karasuno’s Ace.

“And you might feel like giving up,” Hinata’s eyes flash and he frowns at Asahi; as if he’d ever give up on anything, especially anything volleyball related, “even if you don’t think you will now.  You never know what might be the breaking point.  What might be that final straw, that last harsh word in the heat of the moment, that snaps.”

Asahi looks down at the ball in his hand for a long moment before sliding his gaze up to the net and then even higher, eyes distant as he stares up into the air above the net.

“But remember this: even if there’s a time when you don’t believe in yourself someone else out there will.  If there is ever a day you somehow feel like no one else on the team believes in you I do.”

He finally meets Hinata’s gaze for the first time since they settled down to take a break and Hinata feels his breath catch when their eyes meet.  He can see the steel will that hides behind Asahi’s “glass heart” and it’s amazing.  The fire in his eyes and the passion for the game simmer just under the surface and Hinata remembers reading about glass having to be heated to insane temperatures before it can form and he thinks that the famed glass heart is a bit tougher than people give it credit for.

“Just keep showing them the best of you.  The best you can do.  And remember that it’s okay for them to see the worst of you too.  The ace isn’t just a cool title.  The ace keeps the team moving, keeps them looking forward.”  Asahi tosses the ball to him and Hinata stares at it, marveling a little at how much bigger it seems in his hands than Asahi’s.  “And sometimes the ace has to remind people that the view from the top is worth fighting for.  So, to answer your question: yes I think you could really be the ace someday.  Though I don’t know that Tanaka will give up the spot too easily next year.  So you just have to wait a little longer and keep being you.”


	39. i'm sorry i didn't mean to

The gym falls silent, all eyes on their ace as the ball ricochets away and thumps harmlessly into the far wall.  His hand is already covering the lower half of his face as he blinks in confusion over what just happened.

Tanaka’s shout of disbelief snaps everyone out of their dumbstruck poses and back to the scene in front of them.

“Asahi!”  Suga snaps to attention as Tanaka’s cry echoes through the gym, rushing over to Asahi’s side with Kiyoko right behind him, clean towel and first aid kit at the ready.  “Are you okay?  I am so so sorry!”

Tanaka hovers just behind Suga as he and Kiyoko examine Asahi’s injury, fingers twitching with concern.  Takeda-sensei and Coach Ukai are already on their way over as well and he starts apologizing to them as well.

“It’s all my fault.   I wasn’t totally focused and aimed wrong.”

“It’s allright,” Takeda-sensei smiles kindly and moves past him to pull gently at the towel pressed to Asahi’s face, “accidents happen, especially in a game like this.”

Tanaka fidgets and tugs at the hem of his t-shirt.  Of all the stupid things to do while being distracted during practice - slipping and falling on his ass, missing a spike, tripping over his own feet - he had to go with spiking the ball into their Ace’s face.  He just needed to focus more.  This wasn’t like him.  He put his all into every practice and he didn’t let himself get distracted by things.  Especially stupid things.  Especially-

“Tanaka?”  Takeda-sensei and Kiyoko and Suga are all looking at him in concern while Asahi simply blinks watery eyes at him with his head tilted like a puppy.

“Sorry what?”

“I asked if you’d be willing to take Azumane here to the nurse's office and see if there’s a cold compress to put on his lip to get the swelling down.”

“Of course!”

 

“I really am sorry,” Tanaka says as he settles onto the bed next to Asahi after the nurse leaves with orders to keep the compress on for ten minutes.  He swings his legs a little, sneakers scuffing at the tiled floor.

“I know.”  Asahi gives him a small smile.  “It’s fine.  Just a split lip.”

“But now you’ll look like you got in a fight and people will say stupid stuff about you getting into gang disputes or something.”

Asahi draws the compress away, rubbing at his lip with his free hand and frowning.  “Does it really look that bad?”

Tanaka bats his hand out of the way and presses the one with the compress back to his face.  “Ten minutes.”  He sighs then and runs his hand over his head in frustration.  “It doesn’t have to.  They’ll use any chance they get to jump on you and badmouth you.  People are dumb like that.  They don’t care that you wouldn’t hurt a fly and are about as fierce as a newborn kitten.”

“Thanks.  I think.  Suga and Daichi say not to let it get to me.”  He nudges Tanaka’s shoulder.  “And when I have people like you and Noya at my back it’s a little easier.”


	40. i'll pick it up after work

_ [Kinoshita: Im dying send help] _

The message flashes up onto his screen and Ennoshita glances at it with a sigh.

_ [Me: You are not.  Stop being dramatic.] _

There was, in his opinion, nothing worse than a dramatic or snarky person when they were sick.  He would even rather deal with clingy people than dramatic people.  Unfortunately for him Kinoshita was not clingy.  Kinoshita was twice as dramatic and snarky while sick than he was while perfectly healthy.

_ [Kinoshita: do you really want those to be your last words to me?] _

_ [Me: Why aren’t you passed out from your medicine yet?] _

Practice and clean up had ended five minutes ago which, judging by the time on his phone, was about an hour after Kinoshita’s mother should have gotten home with his medicine.  Ennoshita snags Tanaka’s collar and reminds him to actually  _ do _ his homework for tomorrow and to  _ turn it in .   _ Nishinoya gets the same reminder, but with a tug on the leg of his pants that nearly sends him sprawling as he tries to yank them on.

_ [Kinoshita: My mom had to work late.  Probably wont be able to pick it up til tomorrow morning] _

Ennoshita frowns as he locks up the club room and tosses the keys to Daichi at the bottom of the stairs.

“Something wrong?”

“Hmm?  Oh no, don’t worry about it.  See you tomorrow.”

_ [Me: Do I need permission to pick it up or was it something regular?] _

 

“You look miserable.”

“Thank you Ennoshita.  Your words lift up my tired spirit.”

“I brought you medicine and your favorite tea.”

“I have told you today that you’re my favorite?”

Ennoshita shakes his head and toes off his shoes when Kinoshita shuffles aside and lets him in.  Kinoshita trails after him to the kitchen, wrapped up in a blanket and wriggling his nose with a sniffle as Ennoshita starts the tea.

“Your favorite what?”

“Everything.  Just my favorite.”  His eyes widen happily when Ennoshita sets the tea in front of him at the table a few minutes later.  “Mmm.  Tea.”

“You could have just asked me to pick up your medicine you know.”

Kinoshita nods thoughtfully and sips his tea with content hums and the occasional cough.

“But where’s the fun in that?”

There are days Ennoshita questions his friendship with Kinoshita - and most of the other second years, well most of the entire rest of the volleyball team actually - and when he is struggling to get Kinoshita to just take his medicine and go back to sleep an hour later he notes that today is probably one of them.

 

_ [Narita: I think Kinoshita got me sick. (๑◕︵◕๑)] _

Scratch that.  Today is definitely one of them.


	41. is your seat belt on?

It was a recipe for disaster.  Anyone could see it.  Heck even they could see it.

But did that stop them?  Hell no.

Did it even slow them down in the slightest?  Not a chance.

 

“Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle until it comes to a complete stop.”  Ryuu snickers at Noya’s “professional tone” and widens his knees so Noya can settle in between them and lean his back against Ryuu’s chest.  Noya rests his wrists on Ryuu’s knees and shifts around.  He looks like a bird showing off his plumage, head high and huge grin on his face, and Ryuu laughs.  “Please remember to fasten your seat belts and enjoy your trip on the Guardian Deity Flash Ride.”

“Is there even a seat belt on this thing?”  Ryuu glances around as best as he can while Noya cackles.

“Nope!”

He’s not entirely sure how they both fit into the small red wagon they had found abandoned behind the dumpster at Ukai’s shop - it rolled fine and was in pretty decent shape if you ignored the rusty spots and worn wheels - but they did fit.  It’s a good thing being squashed together never bothered them though because Ryuu is situated with his knees bracketing Noya and Noya nestled into the open space between them with his legs pulled up to his chest as he inches them closer and closer to the edge of the hill.

Excitement wells up in the pit of his stomach, like in that moment just before he spikes the ball for a game changing point or when he sees a curve coming up that he’s not entirely sure his sister can take in her van; he bites the edge of his lip as the top of the hill slowly rolls away under them.  There’s a moment where he can feel their balance shifting and then the scenery is flying by in a blur of motion.

Noya is laughing and shouting in front of him with his arms in the air like they’re on a roller coaster and Ryuu can’t help but do the same, though he wraps one arm around Noya’s waist because the last thing he wants is for his best friend to go flying out of the wagon like a kite on a gust of wind.

The bottom of the hill comes into view much too soon and Ryuu realizes the biggest flaw of their idea: they had no plan on how to stop.

It turns out pretty simple in the end.

They reach the bottom of the hill going far too fast and the front of the wagon hits the ground and sends them skidding off to the side, tumbling and rolling through the grassy lot at the bottom of the hill.

“That was awesome,” Noya groans as he wriggles out of Ryuu’s grip.

“It was,” Ryuu agrees, wincing when Noya’s knee finds his ribcage.  “I could go for another round.”

“No.”  They both freeze and turn to each other with wide eyes.  “You do that again I will probably kill you myself.”

Daichi is standing a few feet away with a look that is equal parts angry captain, disappointed parent, and shocked teenager.  Suga is next to him looking like he’s trying not to laugh.  Either that or he just popped some lemon candies into his mouth.  Ryuu isn’t entirely sure.  He’s slightly distracted by the throbbing from his shin and the slow prickle-pain from his elbow.

“Don’t suppose either of you have a bandage?”  Ryuu asks with the most innocent grin he can muster.

“No seat belts on that thing,” Noya adds with a pout as he pokes at his bloody knee.  “Safety hazard.”

“You two are safety hazards.  Mostly to my blood pressure.”


	42. i saved a piece for you

Tsukishima stares down at the small box on his desk with a look that is equal parts confusion and disdain.

“What is that?”

“A piece of strawberry shortcake,” Kageyama replies before taking a long sip of his boxed milk.

“Okay,” he says cautiously as he sits down and sets his lunch beside the box.  “What’s it doing on my desk?”

“Yamaguchi said that you had to stay late to talk to your teacher and I saw there was only one piece left.  So I got it for you.”

Tsukishima pokes at the box with the fork next to it.  “Did you poison it too?”

“Of course.  What good is it if I don’t poison it?”

“Poisoning me won’t earn you any points with the captain, seeing as how he’s my best friend.”  They eat their lunches in silence, both pausing when they hear Hinata barreling down the hallway with a shout looking for Yachi because he forgot about some test he has that afternoon, until Tsukishima finishes and draws the box towards himself.  “Alternatively don’t think that you buying me cake is going to make Yamaguchi more forgiving of that stunt you pulled last week with overworking yourself.”

“Yeah but you could ask him to be less mad at me.”

Tsukishima opens the box and lets out a huffy laugh at Kageyama’s pout.  The cake isn’t the best, school desserts will never beat professional baking after all, but it’s good enough.  Especially since it was free.

“One slice of cake is not enough to get me to do that.  Nice try though.”

“Is it enough to get you to do blocking practice with the first years instead of me doing receiving practice so I can give my knee and ankle another day or two?”

Two years ago Tsukishima would have laughed, taken the rest of his cake, and spent the next week making fun of Kageyama for asking him for a favor.  Last year he would have taken the cake and simply walked away.  But something about the combination of being a third year and having his best friend as captain and his past almost rival as vice-captain and the fact that, according to some former cats he knows, he’s mellowed the hell out a little in the last couple years makes him consider the options.

If he says yes Kageyama owes him and Yamaguchi scolds Kageyama only a little, while praising him a little for being responsible and taking more time off to recover properly.  It also means that he’s stuck doing drills with the first years for two days in a row and being the responsible third year.  If he says no he gets to watch Yamaguchi yell at Kageyama twice in one week but then he has to deal with a frustrated and worried Yamaguchi which leads to dealing with a hyper and jittery Hinata and a bunch of rattled first years.

“Buy me one tomorrow too and it’s a deal as long as you don’t tell Yamaguchi about it.”

“Deal.”  Kageyama finishes his milk and crumples all his garbage together with a frown.  “Honestly I think I’d rather sit through one of Sawamura’s lectures than Yamaguchi’s.”

“That’s just because Sawamura never saw the true extent of your stupidity.”

“I really will poison your cake one of these days.”

“No you won’t.  You need me to pacify our captain for you.”


	43. have a good day at work

Once upon a time he had imagined himself finished with volleyball in any capacity other than the Neighborhood Association.  “Ukai” and “high school volleyball” were words that would only be in the same sentence when it was referring to his grandfather and he was perfectly okay with that.  

He was content to spend his time in his shop reading the paper and napping and only coming into contact with volleyball players when they wandered in after practice, loud and rambunctious, and poked around for a quick snack that he occasionally threw at their heads just to get them to be quiet and leave him alone; not for any ulterior motives like making sure they actually ate and kept their energy up to stay healthy.  He would get together from time to time with the guys from the Neighborhood Association team, maybe reminisce a little about high school and sports and how they’re all being hounded about things like marriage and families and settling down.

His once upon a time and former ideas of happily ever after shattered with the appearance of Takeda.  He had assumed the shorter man, with his innocent eyes and dorky glasses and scruffy looking hair, wasn’t a threat.

That was his mistake.

Takeda Ittetsu was the biggest threat to his quiet life he had ever encountered.

Because now he woke up extra early to work on the farm before he drug himself to school to coach the kids.  Then he worked at the store until it was time to head back and oversee after school practice.  His drinking meetings with the guys turned into strategy sessions and ideas for new plays and practice routines for the kids.  It became a habit to basically open the store for the team after practice when no one else was able to watch it for him while he was gone and then shut it back up after they were done.

Where his days used to be filled with quiet and solitude they were now overflowing with energetic sweaty teens and heartfelt speeches and that low hum of excitement under his skin that he had never really found anywhere other than in a gym with a volleyball rough against his palm.  It buzzed around, electrifying his nerves, each time he stepped through the doors and saw the team, saw  _ his _ team, stretching and chatting and chasing each other around.  It caught behind his ribs and squeezed his lungs when he stood proud in front of them after a win or a loss, heart heavy but still beating to the drum of their energy, to the beat of wings in the air as they strode through gym doors and hallways, heads held high and proud no matter the outcome.

He watched them.  Watched them grow together and band into the kind of friendship that was more family than anything.  Watched them grow up.  Watched them test out their wings and pull themselves up when they crashed.  He guided them when he could and was glad to see his friends willing to do the same.  

 

Once upon a time he was happy to spend the rest of his days as a bachelor, as the cranky lazy shopkeeper in the background.  And now he’s reminding Tanaka to wear a damn hat because it’s cold out and telling Hinata he left his gloves in the club room  _ again _ and he’s happy about it.

There was something special about these kids, he tells himself as he scribbles down an idea on the back of a forgotten receipt late one night while he is in the middle of folding his laundry, though he laughs when that idea is followed by the thought that every parent thinks that about their own kids.

“Have a good day at work,” his mother calls out as he heads back to town for the day and he can’t quite keep the smile off his face because somehow any day he’s with Karasuno turns out to be a good day.


	44. go back to sleep

Daichi cracks one eye open as a warm body wriggles under his blanket and tries not to grunt too loudly when he gets an elbow in his stomach and nearly gets his nose smashed by the top of a head.  The wriggling continues with only a couple pained exhales and one squeak of surprise when cold fingers catch the skin under hem of his shirt before sliding up and latching into the fabric over his heart.

“Better now?”  He asks softly, voice barely a whisper in the moonlit room as his teammates continue their peaceful slumber scattered around him, before settling his own arm down and around the tiny waist at his side.  Noya is practically plastered against him, nose pressed against his collarbone and one leg wrapped around his own, and he takes a deep breath before nodding.  “Need to talk?”  Noya immediately shakes his head then lets out a quiet sigh that warms the collar of Daichi’s sleep shirt.

“It’s just this is our last camp with you guys and our last games are already right in front of us and it just feels like time’s going way too fast and I spend my time watching your backs, that’s my job, my position, but it just feels like,” Noya takes a shuddering breath and Daichi tightens his arm around his waist, “it feels like all I  can do is watch you all walk away from me.”

He was the captain, the one to give heartfelt speeches and rallying words, he was the team’s support and the one they turned to for guidance.  But on nights like this, with one of his team members sniffling into his shirt over fear of the future, he was reminded of how he was very much a teeanager.  Just one that had been deemed a little more responsible and trustworthy than the others but just as fragile as any of the others.

“Oh, Yuu.”

He saved each of them in a tiny box in his mind, and heart, a small sliver of space reserved for them under their most familiar and intimate names.  That was where he kept them safe.  It was where he boxed up Koushi’s wavering confidence in himself and Asahi’s insecurity.  It was where he held Ryuu’s moments of self-berating and the fear that lingered under Hisashi’s snark.  Spaces inside of himself that were available to house Tadashi’s doubts of self worth and Tobio’s fears of being abandoned on the court.  It was where Yuu’s doubts and insecurities found a home outside of his own mind.

He drew them out and boxed them up and used them to build himself.  There was never going to be a part of him that they didn’t have a hand in building, not now.  He may have started out as merely Sawamura Daichi but that was just the foundation, he was just a mold that they filled with pieces of themselves, a sculpture they shaped with their hands and hearts and smiles and tears.

He does his best to explain this to Noya in stilted words and soothing gestures against his back.  Daichi’s never felt as clumsy as he does in the dark trying to explain to Noya that it’s going to be okay.  Because even if they don’t see each other as much, don’t talk everyday, even if they drift apart in the next year it will be okay.  Because they’re more than just a team.  Each one of them is more than who they are alone and they all carry pieces of each other with them.

Noya sighs and mumbles against Daichi’s chest, content and warm and apparently soothed enough to murmur sleepily that he thinks he understands, before he lets out a small hiccup sound and slips off to sleep.

A quiet giggle comes from just past Noya and Daichi freezes.

“That was sweet, if rather stumbling and clumsily adorable.”

“Go back to sleep, Suga.”


	45. take my jacket it's cold outside

The door yanks out of her hand and slams against the building in a gust of wind that sends her bangs flying everywhere and her bag swinging around like it weighed nothing - which she knows is false cause she has like a dozen books on it for her essay and two more about volleyball and at least three different notebooks and her pencil case and - her mind continues listing the contents of her bag, down to the loose change at the bottom of it, as she stares sadly at the wind gusting through the trees and struggles to pull the door shut again.

Once the door latches and she peeks out the window to confirm that, yep, it’s still gusting like crazy out there she sighs.  Really it’s not a huge deal.  It’s just a quick trip to the gym but that wind is so cold and of course today is the day she didn’t bring a jacket or sweatshirt with her and, honestly, her vest doesn’t do much for warmth.  Even with the wind gusting she can probably make it to the gym in a minute or two at most if she sprints; she can run fast if she needs to.

But she’ll be shivering and miserable by the time she does and she was so hoping not to get sick because there was a big test coming up and her essay and she promised to help Hinata with  _ his _ essay and oh there was just so much that could go wrong.

A warm hand on her shoulder surprises her and she spins around with a yelp, bag smacking into the door as a deeper yelp echoes back to her and she looks up in shock as Asahi backs away, nearly running into the students passing behind him.

“I am so sorry.  I tried calling your name but you didn’t hear me.”  Asahi’s eyes are wide and dark and worried as Yachi puts a hand over her rapidly beating heart and takes a deep breath.  “I was asking if you were okay you looked worried.”

“I was just trying to remember why I thought today was a good day to forget my jacket at home.”  She smiles up at him as best as she can - his size automatically makes her a little nervous since he’s so big and she’s, well, not.  Asahi’s eyes jump from her to the way the wind is gusting outside and back in an instant.  He stares at her for a moment and then his eyes widen in understanding.

“Ah you have to run to the gym in this wind, right?”  She nods and clenches her hand around the strap of her bag.  She  really  didn’t want to run in the wind.  Asahi scratches at the back of his head for a moment and then nods like he’s come to a decision.  He shrugs out of his jacket and holds it out to her.  “I know that it’ll be huge on you.  But take mine.”

“No I can’t what about you?”  The words are out practically before he stops talking himself, an instant refusal ready at the tip of her tongue.  She hates to inconvenience others in any way, even something as simple as borrowing a jacket.  His face falls a little but he keeps smiling at her.

“It’s okay.  Really.  I have a meeting with a teacher so I won’t be at practice right away and if it’s still windy when I’m done I have an extra sweatshirt in my bag.”  She reaches out for the jacket hesitantly.  She’d look silly in it and people might get the wrong idea considering there’s only one person on the volleyball team that jacket could belong to.  But she really, really,  _ really  _ hates being cold and it would only be for the short run to the gym.  “Noya and Tanaka borrow it all the time.”

“If you’re really really sure.”

“I am.”

She grabs it and pulls it on right over her bag and everything.  It falls somewhere just above her skirt and she feels like she is absolutely swimming in it but it’s warm, still holding some of Asahi’s body heat, and she pulls it tight around herself and gives Asahi a polite bow.  She backs up and bumps into the door just as Tsukishima and Yamaguchi turn the corner at the end of the hall.  She lets out a quiet squeak of surprise and Tsukishima raises an eyebrow at her but no one mentions the jacket; they’re too busy trying to get the door shut behind them and then running to the gym to waste the breath.


	46. i think you're beautiful

He stares at the flower in the tiny silver vase he had found tucked away under the kitchen sink with a frown.  He had tried to say no but the kind old lady who ran the flower shop absolutely insisted that he take it with him when he walked by today.  She’d gone as far as to take his hand and wrap it around the stem carefully, her wrinkled hands patting his gently before stepping back with a pleased look on her face.

“A beautiful flower for a beautiful soul,” she had said kindly and then nodded once as if that was that and headed back into to the shop, leaving him holding a flower and standing on the sidewalk rather dumbly as people passed by him.  He has no idea why she gave it to him or what it was supposed to mean and staring at the white petals really doesn’t give him any answers.

Akaashi is not a flower expert but he thinks this one is a carnation and a quick search proves him right.

It also tells him that white carnations symbolize things like purity and good luck and loveliness .

He wouldn’t say that he was pure or had a pure soul.  He had his fair share of unkind thoughts and barely bitten back comments that sat heavy and bloody on his tongue.  Probably more than his fair share of moments he wished his captain was a slightly different person who didn’t require quite so much effort.  But… maybe that gave off a pure image?  That he took all that, took all the stuff he wanted to say and all the stuff he didn’t want to do, and let it out in the proper forms.  Perhaps there was a purity in the way he controlled his captain and the team?

The good luck he could use.  The end of the year for the team was flying steadily closer and far too soon, regardless of how far they got in the tournaments this year, the team would be changing and he would probably be the one in charge of it.  He would be the one being responsible.  He already called a lot of the shots but Bokuto was still the one who met with the coach and the manager and the pep club and the photography club.  He was the one who talked to teachers when someone on the team started falling behind.  Despite how much he relied on them all he was still their captain, their leader.  And soon that title would most likely fall to Akaashi’s shoulders, that little “vice” of his current title cracking off like a badly worn piece of plastic in the cold of winter and leaving the sharp edge of “Captain” there for the world to see.  He could use bouquets worth of good luck then, he thinks as he runs a finger along the petals and marveling a little at the velvety texture of them.

Flowers were such strange things to him.  So fragile and delicate and pretty but so hardy, popping up after the winter cold and coming back to life better than ever when on the brink of browning death.

Loveliness.  Now there’s something that could apply to him.  Not that he really saw it but he heard the whispers enough, saw the appreciative looks, felt his bangs brushed to the side as he was told he’d “be even more attractive” if he just smiled more often.  He wasn’t sure he liked being called beautiful mostly because people saw beautiful things as fleeting and unsteady, pretty lights in the sky that blink out come morning, soft flowers that wither in the cold, sunsets that splash color and are dark within minutes.

“But you are beautiful,” Bokuto had told him one night during his first real training camp with the team and nearby schools, Kuroo nodding eagerly beside him and Kenma a few feet away giving a noncommittal shrug.  “Outside, sure, but here inside too.”  Bokuto had tapped him square in the chest and given him that grin, wide and bright and just as beautiful as the stars in the sky only much less fleeting and for the first time since he joined the team and set for Bokuto he realized why everyone was already claiming Bokuto would be captain next year.

 

When he steps through the doors the next morning for practice he smiles to himself at the general clamor of the gym.  _ Beautiful or not , _ he thinks as he drops his bag near the door with the others and heads over to start stretching, _ it’s this team as a whole that’s breathtaking and lovely, not me . _


	47. i made this for you

Soft giggling filters in from outside the gym and puts everyone inside in a better mood.  It’s like the gentle laughter fills them with warm air and they float on the sound.  Hinata seems to be most affected, jumping higher and running even faster than usual, and honestly Suga’s not surprised.  It is Hinata’s little sister making that angelic sound after all and it makes sense that he’d get the most power from it.

He’s not sure of the exact details of her visit just something about Hinata’s mother needing to be somewhere and Yachi offering to watch little Natsu while her big brother was at practice.  Big brown eyes had watched them curiously from the doorway, one hand wrapped up tight in Yachi’s own, for awhile until something outside had caught their attention.  Whatever it was must have been pretty amazing since he’s pretty sure he hasn’t seen even a wisp of hair from either of them since about twenty minutes into practice.

They finally finish their cooldown stretches and Daichi tosses him the keys before gathering up all the towels to drop off in the clubroom before he hurried off.  Something about a meeting with his parents about his university choices that he couldn’t miss.  Today was apparently just a day of everyone having “can’t miss” meetings.  He finishes checking the gym for forgotten items and leans against the doorway to watch Hinata and Kageyama finish running through the gym with the brooms while Noya, Narita, and Yamaguchi collect the last of the balls and shove the cart in the closet.

He says a polite goodbye to each of the team as they leave, peeking out now and again to try and figure out just what Yachi and Natsu have been up to and getting wide eyes and hushed giggles for an answer when they catch him looking.  By the time Kageyama and Hinata are done, after spending five minutes arguing over who did which half faster that Suga had to break up by saying they were both going to do the whole thing again if they didn’t put the brooms away  _ right now _ , everyone else is gone and he really just wants to head home and do his homework.  Since he has the keys he has to be here early in the morning to let everyone in.  Everyone most likely starting with the two right in front of him who are still arguing quietly about something.  Suga wonders if he ever had that much energy even as a first year.

They’re up the stairs to the clubroom, changed, and back down in a matter of minutes and Suga slips upstairs himself to change and lock up.  He takes a few extra minutes to roll the tension from his shoulders and rub the thumping from his temples and to thank whatever gods he needed to that he wasn’t the captain and in charge of this every day - Daichi was a strong, strong man to do this all the time.

He’s surprised to see two bright orange heads of hair still waiting near the bottom of the steps when he locks the door and heads back down.

“Something wrong, Hinata?”  Two pairs of brown eyes and two equally blinding smiles turn to him.

“Natsu and Yachi had a craft time while we were at practice.”  Hinata’s eyes flicker up and it’s then that Suga notices the delicate flowers wrapped around his head.  They’re just whatever little flowers grow in the patch of grass between the gym and the main building - a random mix of whites and purples and yellows and pinks - but somehow they suit Hinata’s sunny smile and shining eyes.

“Well it looks very nice.”  He turns and smiles at the little girl holding onto her brother’s wrist.  “Did you make that for him?”  She shakes her head and scrunches her nose a little in determination before waving at Suga to come closer.

He kneels in front of her and when she tells him to close his eyes he does so with a glance at Hinata, who just shrugs with that same sunny mischievous smile on his face.  He feels tiny hands pull his head down and then the soft pressure of what is no doubt a crown of tiny flowers being settled into his hair.

“I made  _ this  _ one for you.”  Natsu smiles sweetly and proudly when Suga opens his eyes and reaches up to gently touch the flowers almost reverently.

“Thank you.”


	48. after you

Yamaguchi Tadashi was never meant to be the sun shining bright and blinding the world, covering it with warmth and good cheer and happiness.  Nor was he the moon illuminating everything with a cool light that seems harsh until you get used to it, covering you with a blanket of shadows to hide yourself in.  He wasn’t any of the stars either, twinkling and twirling in the darkness, a bright spot to throw wishes to and send dreams to play among or the clouds giving you cool shade to relax in and throwing the world into rippling shades of itself.

It might be egotistical of him to think but if he were to liken himself to anything it would be the entire sky itself.  The canvas that the stars and moon and sun painted themselves on.  The inky dark of night that made the moon and stars that much more brilliant and the clear blue of day that accentuated the sun’s shine and made the clouds fluff up.

He was never meant to be in the spotlight for too long.  He changed the pace, a rock dropped in the stream to toss up ripples and divert the flow.  Staggering at first but easily forgotten and worked around as if it were always there.  He’s not the sunset, just the backdrop that lets the colors splash and mix and awe onlookers.  No one who watches the sunset watches the sky itself.  They see the clouds painted pinks and purples, the sun sinking low, the moon creeping higher, and the stars shimmering into focus.

“After you,” he murmurs politely as he holds the door open for the mother and children entering the store.  She flashes him a polite smile and he’s gone from her radar as soon as she looks away.

But that’s okay.  He’s a minor character, an NPC in the story that is her life, and he’s okay with that.  He’s the kid on the corner who you see everyday but never talk to.  The shopkeep who is there simply to fill the space in a store you never visit.  A warm body to make the world seem less lonely and empty.  Being an NPC isn’t as lonely as it seems when you think about how many stories you’ve been in, how many lives you’ve glimpsed out of the corner of your eye.

His place on the team isn’t solid, and neither are his serves though he does his best not to let that sit at the front of his mind too long.  But he’s here.  His specialty isn’t one that nets him the center stage attention of cool genius and raw talent and unending passion blazing through the sky.

He doesn’t mind, though.  He really doesn’t.

Even when he practices receives and spikes though he’s never on the court in a real game for it to matter.

His specialty has never been one for a star or a sun or a moon.  It was never meant to rival them.  Never meant to make him stand out.

But that’s okay because when he’s here, when he holds the ball in his hand and sees his team spread out in front of him, when the rough surface spins against his palms and all eyes are on him for an instant he remembers that even with the sun and the moon and the clouds and stars out here, there are still people who look just to see the sky.


	49. you can do it

He really hadn’t been all that nervous about the whole becoming the next captain thing.  It’s not like it was really all that unexpected, considering the others had been elbowing him and snickering about it for the months leading up to it.  So when the day finally came and Oikawa and Iwaizumi doled out the new leadership positions the flicker of unease in his stomach never really sprang up.  He smiled back at them when they congratulated him and punched his shoulder (Iwaizumi) and gave him a bone crushing hug (Oikawa) and then set the rest of the team loose on him.  Even Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s snarky comments about putting his big boy underwear on - seriously wear cartoon boxers  one time because you ran out of laundry and you’ll never hear the end of it - didn’t really frazzle his nerves.

It wasn’t until later when Oikawa waved Iwaizumi off to wait for him near the gates and pulled Yahaba that the nervous tickle in his gut set it.  It wasn’t until Oikawa’s “show” smile dropped and he looked at Yahaba with that intense gaze of his, like he was seeing everything about Yahaba inside and out, past and future, that he felt his throat dry in nervousness and his fingers tremble against the lining of his pockets where he had his hands shoved.

It’s when Oikawa looks at him, really looks him straight in the eyes, and smiles softly that his nerves finally explode.

“It won’t be easy, Yahaba.  But you can do it.  I know you can or I wouldn’t have let you follow me as Captain.”  He studies Yahaba, brown eyes boring into him like he’s one of those volleyball matches that Iwaizumi has to pull him from sometimes.  Like he can see into the very marrow of his bones and determine the best way to break him down.  And maybe he can.  Yahaba had learned it was safest to never underestimate Oikawa’s abilities on or off the court.  Then Oikawa smiles, eyes light and playful, and Yahaba breathes again.  “But you’ll never be as good as me.  That’s just not possible.  I am one of a kind after all and my fans will agree with me.”

 

Oikawa’s words echo in his mind that night and chase his thoughts around in a cruel game of tag until it’s both way too late and far too early and the sun is beginning to lighten the night sky with the first blush of sunrise.  Those words hover as he eats breakfast and scramble along behind him as he hurries off to practice.  They throw shadows over his own thoughts as he slips into his practice clothes and they make him hesitate with his hand hovering over the handle of the gym doors.

Can he really do this?  Can he really step up and fill Oikawa’s shoes?  Can he really lead the team?

An actual shadow darkens his vision and he can feel the cool darkness seeping into his back, chilling the nervous sweat that had gathered there.  A smaller shadow darkens the edge of the door to his left, covering the handles and dulling the intimidating glare from the sun.

“Stop thinking so much.  You’ll never be Oikawa or Iwaizumi.”  Kyoutani’s voice is surprisingly calming to Yahaba considering who he is.  “So don’t even think about filling their shoes.  You’ve got a perfectly good pair of your own to wear out.”

Watari laughs and leans around him to catch his eye.  “I agree with him.”  Watari nods sagely and then elbows Yahaba in the side.  “Don’t try to be Oikawa or Iwaizumi.  Just be Yahaba and you’ll do fine.  And if something goes wrong?  Well that’s what we’re here for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is technically prompt #50 of 100 so if you're still reading this thing congrats on making it to the half way point with me! :D Only 50 more to go!


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